Thumbs Up, Level Up - Chapter 287

«You will naturally receive Likes.»

‘Huh?’

«In the past, you had to do something to arouse wonder and admiration in the hearts of others to earn Likes, but not anymore. When people are around you, they will naturally admire you. It is as natural as water flowing downward.»

‘What? That’s some next-level brainwashing. Am I some kind of walking brainwashing tower?’

«It is your power as a God, Master. It cannot be helped.»

“Is everyone else like that, Mu-Cheok?” Ji-Cheok asked.

“If their level is low enough, they can’t feel the pressure that I am feeling right now, but I’m pretty sure they would still be affected to a certain degree.”

“Sigh… It’s not easy to live as a God.”

“Hyung, you will get your ass kicked if you say that anywhere.”

“That’s true.”

“What are the two lovely brothers talking about?”

Ha-Na approached them with a glass of martini in her hand.

‘Ha-Na! We’re surrounded by kids! What’s with the alcohol?!’

“Oh, this? It’s okay. Our level is high enough that stuff like this just breaks down as soon as it gets into our system. Besides, I’ve been practicing cultivation.”

“Thanks to you, I can’t get drunk anymore. It’s a bit of a shame. Good thing I don’t drink alcohol in the first place because it ruins my gains,” Ji-Byeok said as she joined them.

Ha-Na was dressed comfortably and beautifully today. She was wearing a white blouse and a denim skirt. On the other hand, Ji-Byeok was dressed in a manly suit, and although her height and muscles gave her an intimidating stature, that only emphasized her pretty face all the more.

“You’re just being paranoid,” Ha-Na said. “I have never heard of a Tank losing muscle from drinking alcohol.”

“That is the kind of mindset that leads to losing your gains.”

“You’re wrong!”

“I am right!”

Ha-Na and Ji-Byeok seemed to be getting along well, as they were bickering over insignificant topics.

‘Hm… Interesting. I am kind of jealous.’

«Do not worry, Master. You have me!»

‘Thanks, Cheok-Liang. Good thing I have you and Mu-Cheok by my side. That’s all I need.’

“I see you guys are all here.”

Finally, Seong Kwang approached.

“It would be a full team meeting if Ji-Han was here.”

“Why are you excluding Reable?”

“Because he doesn’t seem like much of a teammate. Actually, don’t you feel Bernade and Daniel to be more of our teammates?”

“I guess you are right. It feels like we have been with them for about two years now.”

Ji-Cheok was aware that Bernade and Daniel had fought in dungeons with Team Alpha team members at different times. This made sense—Bernade was a very powerful Wizard and Druid, and Daniel’s abilities as a Tank were similar to Ji-Byeok’s.

“Gulp. Whew!”

Finishing her martini in one gulp, Ha-Na took off the cap of the small bottle in her other hand and poured herself another.

‘Wait… isn’t that…’

“Isn’t that the [Bottle of Infinite Alcohol]?”

“Oh, you know what this is? You’re right. I got this in a dungeon. I can change the type of alcohol to suit my mood. Pretty cool, right?”

‘I had no idea that Ha-Na loved drinking.’

“That’s good. It is nice to relax like this. Speaking of which, Ji-Cheok, I heard you still have a big one left.”

“Yes, according to Reable, we have one final battle left. My intuition is also telling me the same thing.”

“If I remember correctly, it was called Divine Intuition, right?”

“Yes. It is not as good as actual divination skills, but it works pretty well, in my opinion.”

“I understand. There are a lot of people who have good instincts, especially when they become Hunters, and if that instinct becomes one of their skills….”

“Yeah, that’s very common knowledge.”

It was common knowledge that a person’s natural abilities became stronger when they became a Hunter and their natural abilities became their skills. It was why people with good instincts gained skills like [Sixth Sense] and [Intuition], while people who exercised regularly gained skills like [Fortitude]. There were even cases where a Hunter whose actual job was Wizard also acquired a skill like [Resilient Body] because he had been a gym rat before he Awakened.

Ji-Cheok remembered hearing that Hunter had ended up in a rare class called Muscle Wizard.

‘I’m quite curious as to how the Muscle Wizard would fight in a battle. Do they use their muscles to cast their spells, not their mana?’

“I was just wondering, what are you going to do when you are done with all this?”

Everyone looked at Ji-Cheok at Ha-Na’s question.

“Uh… Me?”

“Yeah. What are you going to do after you save the world? Savior Um Ji-Cheok! That sounds so cool! Are you going to take over the world? I’m sure you can do it.”

«Ha-Na has a point. Now that I can materialize, it is time to put the world under your feet, Master!»

‘Cheok-Liang, you’re going too far. I cannot do that. You can’t just put the world under your feet.’

«It is to save the people from themselves, Master. Driving out the dungeons, monsters and all the evil Gods will not make the world peaceful.»

‘Hmm?’

«There are still many who are having a hard time under political turmoil and oppressive dictatorships. Even in democratic countries, the people are divided into classes by capital and political power, and the people are suffering. Conquering the world to save them is the very virtue of a true monarch!»

‘So that is what you mean when you keep on asking me to conquer the world. It was to save the people from their suffering!’

«Yes, Master. Do not turn a blind eye to the people fighting adversity.»

‘I… will think about that later. I think there has to be a less extreme way to do it. Really, I will think about that later too. For now, let’s just prepare for the final battle or whatever it is…’

They needed to do what they could in a short period of time.

After finishing his telepathic conversation with Cheok-Liang, he looked back at his team members, who were waiting for his answer with their eyes wide open.

“… I was planning on just relaxing… Doing what I want, eating good food…”

“What?”

“Excuse me?”

“Come again?”

“Hm…”

Mu-Cheok was the only one who was nodding his head, while everyone else went blank. As if they had just heard something they shouldn’t have.

“You guys have it all wrong. I am not a workaholic,” Ji-Cheok said.

“How can you call yourself not a workaholic after all the things you have done?” Ji-Byeok asked, sheer incredulity clearly visible on her face.

“Well, I am not.”

“How??”

Ha-Na now had a questioning look on her face.

“I did all this because I needed to. To put it more accurately, I did it because I knew that only by working fiercely hard could I somehow reach my goal.”

“What?”

“When I found out about the end of the world, I thought, ‘if I don’t work my ass off, the world that I live in is actually going to be destroyed.’ That’s why I worked so hard.”

“Uh… but no one asked you to do that,” Ha-Na said.

Ji-Cheok smirked at her.

“I can’t enjoy my life if the world that I’m living in is destroyed, right? And putting the world aside, Mu-Cheok would die, and so would everyone here, including you, Ji-Byeok, Seong Kwang, and everyone in this orphanage.”

“I see…”

“I had to protect the world in order to protect my family and my loved ones.”

That had been his philosophy ever since he was a little kid. When he was very young and it was just Mu-Cheok and him, he had boldly given up his education for his younger brother. He had to if he was going to make Mu-Cheok a successful adult.

When he thought about it, that was how most of his life had been.

“I don’t like those cheesy lines like ‘I am the only one who can save the world.’ I am just doing it because I have to.”

“Wow… That’s amazing.”

“You’re saying, you did everything just because you have to…”

“Brother Ji-Cheok, you are such a great guy.”

“Well, I am not… What about you guys? What are you going to do when this is all over?”

At his question, Ha-Na grinned like a frog.

“Me! I am going to sail around the world on a yacht!”

‘Haha. I would have never guessed that.’

“I like to swim. But there were sea monsters in the ocean, so I couldn’t swim. I figured if we delayed the Tutorial, there would be fewer monsters and I could swim as much as I wanted in the ocean. After that… I’m sure I will figure it out later!”

‘Ha-Na is so cool as usual.’

“I think I am going to practice cultivation more in-depth,” Ji-Byeok said.

“Cultivation?”

“Yeah, it agrees with my body.”

‘Hm… Is this the mindset of a gym rat?’

It was said that if a person asked a gym rat why they lifted, nine out of ten times, the gym rat would answer that they lifted because the weights were in front of them.

‘I guess Ji-Byeok is hooked on cultivation now.’

“I am thinking about setting up a foundation and expanding the orphanage.”

Seong Kwang was still the same. He was still full of the will to care for children and do more good for humanity.

«You can do good things like that, too. You just need to conquer the world—»

‘Shut up, Cheok-Liang.’

He looked at Mu-Cheok.

“I didn’t think of anything. I’ll think about it when I am done with everything.”

‘Well, he’s no fun.’

“Alright! Let’s toast for your future! Cheers!”

Ha-Na raised her glass. They all raised their own classes and clinked them.

“Cheers!”

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

After the small, fun part with his team members, they parted ways. They all had things to do, to prepare for the future.

Ji-Cheok was preparing to go to the United States. Going to the United States was a fairly simple task for him, but since it was not as urgent as it used to be, he had to follow some procedures.

First, he tried to call A/B on his direct line.

‘If he doesn’t answer, I’ll just leave a text.’

With that in mind, he dialed the number and it was immediately answered.

—What do you want?

‘Hm… He seems a bit angry.’

“Uh… I am calling because I wanted to talk to you about your schedule going forward. I was going to come by and see you, but I can tell it’s not the right moment. Maybe next time…”

—No, it’s not a big deal. So you are coming here?”

“Yeah. You know that I have a skill that can allow me to travel space, right?”

—Good. I was about to move anyway. Come up here.”

“Come up?”

—I am in space right now. I am going to send you the coordinates, so get up here.”

“Ah, okay.”

‘Does this guy have a skill that allows him to float in space?’

«Coordinates arrived, Master.»

“I will be right there.”

He hung up the phone and jumped through space.

Flash!

“What the…”

Ji-Cheok landed in the middle of the bridge of a sci-fi-looking space battleship.

He saw A/B standing right in front of the captain’s seat in the center. Other than him, nobody else was there.

⌜Welcome to the Sky Warlord, Mr. Um Ji-Cheok.⌟

He heard a soft voice from somewhere.

‘Is that some kind of AI operator? Also, Sky Warlord?’

“Welcome. Welcome to my superweapon.”

Adam Bronze turned his head to look at Ji-Cheok, while still standing with his back at him in a sort of swaggering pose that was a bit comical.

“A superweapon?”

“Yeah, I predicted that there would be enemies like Mount Kunlun, so I made it using my job abilities.”

‘Job abilities, huh….’

Ji-Cheok did not really know Adam Bronze’s job, but it was because he had been busy lately and had not checked it out.