I Gave Up Being Stronger

In the video, Cha Jin-Hyeok saw Lee Hyeon-Seong, the current number-one-ranked sword-wielding class in Korea. Before Jin-Hyeok's regression, Hyeon-Seong was competing with him for the title of Korea's Sword King.

Of course, Jin-Hyeok was a bit stronger.

For reference, before Jin-Hyeok's regression, he had never lost the top spot to Hyeon-Seong. Second through fifth place were always chaotic, but Jin-Hyeok was the indisputable number one.

Some might say that he was overwhelmingly powerful.

He was suddenly nostalgic for that.

‘No, stop it.’

He focused on Hyeon-Seong. Hyeon-Seong looked much younger than Jin-Hyeok remembered.

‘I remember him telling me that he was never going to work for the government.’

The Hyeon-Seong that Jin-Hyeok remembered had a deep-rooted distrust of the state. Hyeon-Seong used to ask Jin-Hyeok why Jin-Hyeok was doing the government job with that much Skill. Jeong-Hyeon used to tell Jin-Hyeok that if Jeong-Hyeon was anything like Jin-Hyeok, Jeong-Hyeon would never be the government's dog.

Jin-Hyeok knew, if Hyeon-Seong had tasted the sweet growth with the government’s help, Jeong-Hyeon wouldn’t have said that.

‘But now he is the face of a public service announcement?’

The past had changed. He thought this happened because of himself. Jin-Hyeok would have joined in later than this, but that job was actually his.

‘I get why he’s in the video, but what the hell is that?’

The fact that Hyeon-Seong was the one to fill the job that Jin-Hyeok had before the regression was surprising in itself. But there was something even stranger.

‘Mother?’

There was one person they called ‘Mother.’

She was a Player just like them, and she was basically their therapist, their mental support. They had always been in extreme environments and had been on numerous missions, and regular counseling and mental care were essential to keep them sane.

This role was fulfilled by Mother.

They learned that her Player name was Maria.

Jin-Hyeok had a strange feeling as he looked at Maria’s face.

‘Her face is the same as I remember.’

For Hyeon-Seong, he looked much younger than Jin-Hyeok remembered. However, Maria looked exactly the same as Jin-Hyeok remembered. It was as if she didn't age at all between now and Jin-Hyeok's memories of her from his previous life's future.

‘For some reason, she doesn’t look human.’

Jin-Hyeok did not realize it at the time, but now he realized that there was something about her that did not feel human. It was like a strange sense of foreignness when someone would meet a human being from another Server. It wasn’t immediately obvious to everyone, but only to those who had experienced a lot of humanity from other Servers.

“Oppa, what’s wrong?” Cha Jin-Sol asked.

“No, it’s nothing…”

He decided not to read too much into it.

He didn’t know why Hyeon-Seong, who hated the government, was now working for that very organization, and why Maria’s face looked the same as he remembered.

‘I wish I could let this go.’

But he couldn’t.

First, he called Kim Jeong-Hyeon. Jeong-Hyeon was also his teammate back in his past life, and Jeong-Hyeon had also applied to work for the government.

“Did you hear? The government is looking for Players to help them.”

—Yes… I did hear that…

“So, what do you think?”

With Jeong-Hyeon’s personality, Jin-Hyeok thought Jeong-Hyeon would definitely apply, but Jeong-Hyeon's answer was surprising.

—I… don’t think… I will… apply…

“Why not?”

Jeong-Hyeon was talking slowly, as usual.

—Because… I think I’m going to need money… for a while. I looked at their conditions… and they do not… seem to be that good…

‘That’s unexpected.’

Jin-Hyeok remembered him saying that he was glad he was a government employee, back in Jin-Hyeok's past life.

“I hear their salary and conditions are pretty good.”

—I know… but I think… it is nothing compared to when I am with you, Jin-Hyeok.

Jeong-Hyeon suddenly laughed and told him “I look forward to working with you.”

He had always used honorifics when he talked to Jin-Hyeok, but he had never been this polite before. If this was considered a change, then it was indeed a change.

“Sleep well. We are going to clear the hottest Dungeon in Korea tomorrow.”

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

The party chartered a small bus to make the trip more efficient.

“Jeong-Hyeon, Jae-Hyeon, the Seo sisters, Jin-Sol… I guess everyone is here. Let’s go!”

They boarded the bus and traveled to Ilsan. The Golden Toad Dungeon was located in the middle of Ilsan Lake Park.

It was the hottest Dungeon lately, along with Bupyeong Station Dungeon, which was said to be the worst Tutorial Dungeon.

“Oppa,” Seo Ji-Soo said.

There were plenty of seats, but Jin-Hyeok had no idea why Ji-Soo was sitting right next to him.

“Are we really going to the Golden Toad Dungeon?”

“I thought you were there at the briefing.”

“I heard all the Players who discovered the Dungeon are now dead. Did you know that?”

“The first discoverers usually die.”

Not all of them, but he would say about sixty percent of them died.

“And then I heard a whole bunch of Players went in to clear it but ran away and got out.”

“Good. That means there is a way out.”

This meant that the Dungeon would fall on the friendlier side of the spectrum.

“Oh, right… I guess you can put it that way.”

They all seemed to be convinced by his logical explanation. Ji-Soo started to talk a little faster.

“But the Players who escaped alive from there found gold. A lot of it. They made millions of won, or even tens of millions of won, just by going in there once.”

The Golden Toad Dungeon was such a place. Although it was not widely known now, it was a notorious place where the number of clears was even restricted due to how good it was.

‘I remember the restriction being about one hundred clears.’

The Dungeon would disappear on its own after that many clears. It was also a place that had an ‘anti-monopoly' setting. He didn’t remember the exact number, but each team could only clear it about a bit more than ten times.

‘That’s not a problem. I’ll have enough money to retire after ten clears.’

Just then, the bus driver yelled.

“Holy shit!”

A dump truck had run a red light and was hurtling toward them.

Jin-Sol looked out the window and screamed.

“AHH!!!”

A big accident was inevitable. Jin-Hyeok did not even have time to think before he reacted.

[You have used the Skill 「Time-Lapse Recording」.]

[Speed: x0.8]

The subject of the Skill was the dump truck. He could apply the Skill to all things below Level 50. Most of the ‘products of science,' like the dump truck, were set to Level 1.

He then used the Skill again, this time on their driver.

[You have used the Skill 「Time-Lapse Recording」.]

[Speed: x1.2]

He used it twice in a row and he didn’t even feel anything to his mental strength. The bus driver, who was the subject of the second Time-Lapse Recording, turned the wheel faster than before.

The dump truck slowed down, and the bus sped up. With a split second to spare, Jin-Hyeok threw himself out of the way.

Crash!

The window shattered as he jumped out. His body reacted on its own.

‘Activate Broadcaster’s Barrier.’

Even if he used Broadcaster’s Barrier, he would still die if he collided with the dump truck head-on.

Thanks to Time-Lapse Recording, the truck seemed to be approaching slowly.

This phenomenon of making his enemy attacks appear slower had a similar feeling to when he entered the Sword Realm. It was impossible to do that with his current abilities, but his Time-Lapse Recording allowed him to have a similar effect.

His heart started to beat fast.

‘My body remembers everything.’

Memories from before the regression and the experiences he had gained while facing Golden Golem’s Rocket Fist guided his body. His movements were more natural than they had been when he fought with the Golden Golem.

It pleased him very much.

The dump truck was about to hit Jin-Hyeok.

‘I have…’

He needed to hit it. He needed to change the trajectory of the truck.

Something inside of him started to itch. He couldn’t help but spit it out.

“I have grown!”

Boom!

He hit the dump truck the same way he hit the Rocket Fist.

When someone did not forget what they had learned once and do it again more naturally and more effectively, the feeling of accomplishment was indescribable.

‘But it seems like my shoulder is smashed.’

Still, it felt good.

It was just a shoulder, he could get it healed. It was definitely a similar situation to when he hit the Rocket Fist, but if his power had regressed, it would have hurt a lot more than a shattered shoulder.

‘Hm…’

Then he realized something was wrong.

‘There is no driver on that truck.’

There was no one on that dump truck that almost hit him. It seemed like someone had set a trap.

A black van swooshed by behind the truck. Jin-Hyeok reflexively looked at the person in the passenger seat.

‘Mother?’

She was someone he had spent so much time with before the regression. It was only a fleeting glimpse, but it was definitely Maria. This was probably not a coincidence.

He used his Broadcaster’s Truesight at the right time.

‘My eyes are tingling.’

His eyes were bloodshot and blood was coming out of them. If he hadn’t obtained Imperial Resilience, his eyeballs would have burst from the reaction force.

This was actually hurting him, but he endured it.

[LV?/Maria/?/?]

He can read the Level of Lilia, who was Level 97, but not Maria’s. Even his Broadcaster’s Truesight, which was enhanced by Imperial Resilience, could not see it.

‘I remember Maria being a human…’

He was convinced that there was something hidden in this national Player development policy that he did not know about.

‘This is going to be a problem.’

He did not know why this was happening, nor did he want to. However, what he didn’t want even more was to get involved in the chain of events. He simply could not afford to get into a fight with Maria, the woman who supposedly caused the accident, at this moment in time.

He would probably end up dead.

While he did enjoy a good fight, he was not going to jump into a fight with someone whom he was no match for.

He wasn’t scared of her. It was because he had a goal in his mind, and it would be unfair to die without reaching it.

That was how he came up with his reasoning.

‘Is she targeting Jeong-Hyeon?’

Kim Jeong-Hyeon had told Jin-Hyeok that he refused to become a Player for the government. From what Jin-Hyeok heard, Mok Jae-Hyeon and the Seo sisters also refused. They all had their names on the ranking board, so it was easy for the government to identify them.

‘But how could someone identify people whose name is on the ranking board? How did the government contact them?’

The ranking board contained Player names, not real names.

Right now, Jae-Hyeon’s Player name was ‘Loser.’ How could they identify 'Loser' as Jae-Hyeon and contact him?

‘It’s not like the SSP is activated right now.’

Jin-Hyeok knew the SSP would get activated at later times. It was true that when that time comes, anyone who would have access to the SSP would be able to check a Player's registration information and verify their identity.

However, they could not do that yet.

‘This is so weird.’

Jin-Hyeok thought there was some big conspiracy that he did not know about. The problem was, there wasn’t much he could do about it right now.

Jin-Sol came running up to him, panting.

“Oppa! Are you okay?”

Tears welled up in her eyes.

‘Ugh, she’s overreacting again.’

It was just a few shattered bones, nothing too serious.

“Why would you do something so dangerous? I’m serious! Do you know how scared I was?”

She was saying weird things again. If he had not done this, the dump truck would have crashed into the side of the bus.

“If I hadn’t done this,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“Huh?”

“You would’ve died.”

‘You’re still so weak.’

Aside from Jae-Hyeon and Jeong-Hyeon, the Seo sisters and Jin-Sol would have been seriously injured or even killed.

He was telling her the facts. He didn’t say this to hurt her, but if it were him, it would have hurt his pride.

However, strangely, Jin-Sol seemed rather touched.

“I don’t want you to get hurt…”

“...”

She wiped away the tears that were streaming down her face and continued to treat her brother.

‘Ugh, I’m getting emotional again.’

“Alright, is everyone okay?”

Luckily, no one was injured. Jin-Hyeok also recovered quickly. It was only a minor injury, after all.

“This is going to be a problem,” he said.

“Why? What’s wrong? Where does it still hurt? Tell me!”

“No. I told the viewers that I was going live at 10 a.m.”

“You idiot! Is that so important?!”

It was indeed important.

Kang Mi-Na had once said that a Streamer’s life depended on their punctuality. If he wanted to finish well and retire early, he needed to take care of the little things.

‘Huh?’

He suddenly had an idea.

“Let’s take a break now that everyone is a little freaked out.”

A little while later, it was ten o’clock, the scheduled livestream time.

As soon as he turned on the livestream, Gap-Soo entered the channel as if he had been waiting for him.

[MoneyShower had entered the channel.]

Jin-Hyeok turned off all notifications of who entered the channel, but it seemed like he was notified of people who had accessed via the invitation. On the top right corner of the screen, the ‘invitation list’ was shown.

It was like its sole purpose was to show the names of those who got the invitation.

[VIP Invitation List]

[1. MoneyShower]

Jin-Hyeok could imagine the smiling face of Gap-Soo. He knew how Gap-Soo felt. Jin-Hyeok still remembered the thrill of seeing his own name at the top of the ranking board.

[The invitation privilege has been applied.]

[The invited have one minute to message on the channel.]

The old man immediately sent a message on the channel. It was clear that he wanted to show off that he was the only one who could send a message.

[MoneyShower: It’s finally happening!]

“I was trying to clear the hottest Dungeon in Korea.”

Jin-Hyeok expressed his frustration.

“However, there seems to be some force intentionally sabotaging our Play. As all of you can see, there was a major accident, and the injuries and aftereffects are quite serious. I am really sorry, but I don’t think we are going to be able to livestream today. I am just here to tell all of you what’s going on. I will see all of you on the next livestream.”

[MoneyShower: What? You little… Wait a minute!]

“I am so sorry. I have no choice.”

He could tell that Gap-Soo was very angry, but Jin-Hyeok just abruptly ended the livestream after he said everything he needed to say.