Thumbs Up, Level Up

If this had been a game, Ji-Cheok would probably have had two choices: giving Tama people the perfect death for salvation, which would result in no harm to Ji-Cheok and the team, or removing Tama people from this dungeon so that they could live in the real world again, which could potentially harm Ji-Cheok and the team.

Normally, people would have immediately chosen the first one, but that would just make Ji-Cheok’s video very boring.

Cheok-Liang replied to Ji-Cheok’s thoughts.

«I am sure that is not the only reason, Master.»

‘What? Why? Why do you think that?’

Cheok-Liang chuckled softly.

«Never mind, Master. I just think that you are very easy to read. It is one of the reasons why I follow you.»

Cheok-Liang licked his front paws like a cat.

«So, what will you do from now on?»

‘I will deal with it myself.’

«Your brother would disagree. You know that it will put you in danger, yet you still want to save them?»

‘I’ll run away if it becomes too dangerous, but it would be better for my stream if I do this.’

«You are very stubborn, Master.»

‘Yeah, I’m a bit stubborn. But do you think it’s possible?’

«You always make the impossible possible.»

‘Alright, let’s do it.’

Just as he made this promise to himself…

[A user of the Likes System has built up willpower.]

[The condition has been unlocked.]

[The Likes System is asking for an offering.]

[Offering: [Heirloom Seal of the Realm]]

‘What... What the hell is going on? Why all of a sudden? And what’s this about building up willpower? Why didn’t this pop up when I was struggling with Despair? Did I not have enough willpower? This is ridiculous.’

What was even more ridiculous was the part where the System asked for the Heirloom Seal of the Realm as an offering. The item was incredibly valuable, so much so that .

For a moment, Ji-Cheok was shocked, but he quickly reorganized his mind.

‘If it’s the System that we are dealing with… I should probably give them what they want.’

«Yes, Master. It is rare for the System to ask for something directly, so it is probably because you have fulfilled an unknown condition.»

‘Okay! I’ll offer it to the System!’

[The Likes System has received the [Heirloom Seal of the Realm] as an offering.]

[The Likes System has been upgraded.]

[The Likes Shop has been upgraded.]

[More diverse items are now available for purchase.]

[A God Request System has been created.]

[From now on, Gods can make requests to the user of the Likes System in exchange for Likes or Grace.]

[A livestream channel has been created for the Gods.]

[Gods can now subscribe to your channel.]

[God Subscription Service has been created.]

[From now on, you will receive 5,000 Likes daily for each subscriber.]

[The God Grace Purchase Service has been created.]

[You can now purchase Graces by requesting them from the corresponding Gods.]

[Abilities of the offering, following the upgrade of the Likes System, are applied to the user as skills.]

[You have acquired the following skills. [Faction: Fortitude], [Absolute Command], [Faction: Abundance], [Charm +500].]

As Ji-Cheok was overwhelmed by the System message,

[[Messenger_navigating_life_and_death] has subscribed to your channel!]

[You have received 5,000 Likes.]

[[Wealthy_lord_of_death] has subscribed to your channel!]

[You have received 5,000 Likes.]

[[Swan_riding_creator] has subscribed to your channel!]

[You have received 5,000 Likes.]

[[Thundering_hammer] has subscribed to your channel!]

[You have received 5,000 Likes.]

[[One_who_benefits_humans] has subscribed to your channel!]

[You have received 5,000…]

Next to the rapidly popping notifications, Ji-Cheok’s GodTube account appeared, and a new channel was created. It was a GodTube channel dedicated to Gods, and it was already livestreaming as it opened.

‘Wait, what about my private life? Ah, there it is, the ‘Stop Streaming’ button.’

While Ji-Cheok was thinking about his private life, Gods came into his channel and started to subscribe. He didn’t know if it was a subscription fee or something, but the Gods were giving him five thousand Likes as they came in. It was amazing to see his number of Likes rising.

‘Hey, wait a second… What the hell… Weren’t these Gods watching me all along anyway? Why is there a new GodTube channel? And why are the Gods subscribing to it?’

«I believe that the Gods' gaze is limited to dungeons, is it not? Maybe that is why.»

‘So they want to see my everyday life?’

«I believe so, Master.»

‘Don’t the Gods have anything better to do?’

The number of subscribers passed one thousand, then two thousand, then three thousand. When the wave finally subsided, a whole 3012 Gods had subscribed to Ji-Cheok’s new channel.

After he got over his surprise, he counted the number of Likes that he had gotten from his fresh subscribers.

Fifteen million.

‘Is this the power of the Gods? How is this possible? Ha…’

«The Gods are powerful beings, Master.»

‘I know that, but…damn. Anyway, Cheok-Liang, what's my current Likes count?’

«If you add up the Likes that have been steadily accumulating in the last while, right now, you have 42.82 million Likes. I rounded up the thousands so that it is easier to see.»

‘That’s scary…’

This was crazy. Ji-Cheok felt like he could do anything.

‘With this many Likes, I can do anything! Well…no, not really. Upgrading the [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art] to S-rank was a hundred million, right? Hm… I wonder how powerful the S-rank [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art] is if it’s going to cost me this many Likes. That’s amazing…’

“Ha…”

Ji-Cheok sighed and then composed himself.

‘Okay. It’s good to have a lot of Likes coming in. Plus, the Likes Shop has more items and I can buy Graces directly from the Gods. This is amazing.’

He then thought back at the advice that the God of Spirits had given him.

[If you find the one that is asleep, you shall get what you want.]

‘I’m just curious. Why did the God of Spirits say it like that? Is it different from the dungeon Core? I guess the Fragment of the Twisted God doesn’t have to be the dungeon Core… That means…’

Ji-Cheok suddenly got up from the bed.

‘We just need to scour this entire dungeon. How? Easy. We just need to grind. That. Shit. Out.’

«Master! What kind of an absurd conclusion is that?»

‘No, we can do it. This place is roughly half the size of Jeju Island, right?

«Yes, Master. But…»

‘We will just have to annihilate the Cultists first and wipe out the rest of the monsters.’

«Master, Isn’t that the standard way of clearing a dungeon?»

‘Yes. In order to fully clear a dungeon, you have to kill all the monsters in the dungeon, right? That way, the Hunter Assistants can come and pick up the monster corpses later. The longest way round is the shortest way home. Isn’t that a fitting quote?’

* * *

“Please listen to me while you eat your breakfast,” Ji-Cheok said.

The night had passed and the morning came. Since they were all practically superhumans, they didn’t need to get much sleep. And with the help of the World Tree, they had the perfect recipe for restoring stamina and mana! That was why everyone woke up at the crack of dawn with only a little bit of sun peeking out.

Mu-Cheok was in charge of the breakfast, as usual.

‘This guy… His cooking skills are getting better every damn day.’

The team members who were eating breakfast at the long table turned their gaze toward Ji-Cheok.

“I want to save them.”

“If my hyung says so, I’m all for it.”

“Me too!”

Mu-Cheok and Reable agreed, but the reason Ji-Cheok was speaking up was not to get their approval.

“So I’ve been thinking about how to do it,” Ji-Cheok said.

“Is there a way?”

“It’s the old-fashioned and standard way that we all know of: fully clear the dungeon.”

“Huh?”

“Oh, that’s how…”

Ignoring the admiring glances of Ha-Na and Seong Kwang, Ji-Cheok continued his explanation.

“The standard way is to kill all the monsters, then take out the boss monster and open the All-Clear Portal, right? So, this time, we will kill all the monsters except for the boss monster and the Tama people. And then…”

Ji-Cheok cleared his throat.

“...we’re going to turn this whole dungeon upside down. Literally. As in, physically tear this place apart.”

‘I’m going to remodel the hell out of this dungeon! I’ll excavate the ground, I’ll shred the forest to bits, I’ll dig through every mini dungeon, and I will find every damn secret inside the dungeon!’

“Wow…”

“We’re going to cover an area half the size of Jeju Island? Hyung, isn’t that a bit…much?”

Everyone was stunned. Only Seong Kwang looked pensive.

“No, brother Mu-Cheok, it is not impossible. If we combine our abilities with the abilities of the Tama people— Ah, I see. The advice from the God of Spirits. There must be something to it that made brother Ji-Cheok feel this way…”

‘Oh! Seong Kwang! At least you understand me!’

Ji-Cheok quickly and joyfully replied to Seong Kwang, “Exactly! The God of Spirits said ‘If you find the one that is asleep, you shall get what you want.’ So what I’m thinking is that, if we search every nook and cranny in this dungeon, we actually might find it!”

It was going to take some time, but Ji-Cheok knew that they could search the entire dungeon. And eventually, somewhere along the way, there was going to be a tangled and twisted fragment of the God of Choice and the God of Forest Shade.

‘If we turn the place upside down, it has to come up somewhere!’

“But there's a major problem with that, Mr. Um. We still have to take down the Cultists. The Cannibal faction is a non-issue, as they’ve been decimated, but the Cultist faction still retains a fair amount of power.”

Ji-Han spoke out in opposition, and he made a valid point. They had taken down the boss of the Cannibal faction, but the Cultists’ leader was alive and well. He was even evolving, for that matter.

“Byul Ha-Na, how many enemies are there in the Cultist faction?” Ji-Han asked.

“Hold on. Hm… One, two…. Looks like those attacking from the rocky mountain yesterday were not all of them. We dealt with about a hundred of them there, but there’s still a lot of them left. I would say there are about 350 of them, according to my detection skill. They are currently gathered in their lair, talking about something.”

The [Guidance of the Stars] was amazing! It was as if the team had put up a military satellite. It was an enormous advantage that they could see the number and location of enemies right away.

When you're just trying to make great content at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

“Yesterday, we were able to handle them because we were in the middle of the three factions fighting. If we attack them head-on, it is a different story.”

Ji-Han’s words made sense. It was certainly dangerous. And it would be a burden for Ji-Cheok to bring his team members into this.

That was why Ji-Cheok had come up with another idea.

“Yes, it’s pretty risky. That is why I’m going to attack the Cultist faction on my own.”

‘If I do it alone, it removes the pressure of taking my team members.’

Ji-Cheok’s words took everyone by surprise.

“Nope! Nope, nope, nope. Absolutely not. Are you crazy?!”

Ha-Na was the first one to oppose Ji-Cheok’s idea.

“How are you going to take on 350 Cultists by yourself? Don’t be ridiculous!”

‘Well… I think I can do it…’

«Master, you should say that out loud, not just mutter it to yourself…»

‘I know.’

“I think Mr. Umji is thinking of guerilla warfare. If we’re trying to attack a large group of enemies with only a few of us, this is a good strategy. Also, Mr. Umji can fly, right?”

‘Huh? Reable is backing me up?’

“But you don’t have to do it alone, Mr. Umji. I’ll join you!”

Reable looked excited. He wanted in on the action.

‘I need to be careful of the next words that come out of my mouth.’

“First of all, it’s easier for me to move by myself,” Ji-Cheok said.

“But you can fit another person on your bike, hyung. I can ride in the back. It’s better if you have one more ranged Damage Dealer, since you are more of a melee fighter,” Mu-Cheok said.

“Mr. Mu-Cheok~ You shouldn’t cut in line~ I said I would go first,” Reable said.

“I just don’t think Necromancers are great at ranged attacks, are they?”

‘Hey, you two. You don’t need to fight over my back seat like that.’