Thumbs Up, Level Up

Domingo was weak against silver and Divine Power. However, that didn’t mean he was immune to other attacks.

While the damage was not as high as what he suffered from silver and Divine Power, he still took damage from all kinds of magic. For instance, when he was in the mist state, he was impervious to most things, but not fire and ice. Although he turned into mist, every single particle was a fragment of his body. Burning or freezing them inevitably damaged him.

Flash!

The mist coalesced into one. His entire body was covered in a bloody aura. He was nicknamed Domingo the Escapist, but that didn’t mean he was weak by any means. Anyone could survive, even if they were weaklings, but becoming the leader of a mafia gang was something completely out of the realm of possibility for a weak person. Forget about controlling the underground, he would have been permanently resting in the underground for a long time now.

However, even with his extensive network, there were a few things that he didn’t know.

“Freeze.”

As an unknown voice from an unknown place intonated this word, he felt the atmosphere around him freeze down to absolute zero. He summoned all the vampiric power in his blood in order to resist, but as attacks rained down on him from all sides, he could only watch in bewilderment.

Dozens of steel arrows, each over two meters long, flew at him. They struck him like lightning. A plant stem emerged from the floor, stretching out all around him. At the same time, tiny iron balls orbited around him, flowing in from seemingly everywhere. Dozens of daggers suddenly appeared in the air, thrusting at him from all directions. Finally, arrows made of green liquid flew in from all directions!

He was being struck by so many long-range attacks that it was impossible for him to respond in any way. He had no choice but to shield himself with his blood power and tank the damage!

Boom! Crack! Swoosh!

A chain of massive explosions reverberated.

When the light faded, there stood Domingo, pierced by vines and branches, giant steel arrows, iron balls, and daggers.

“ARGH!!”

He scrambled in agony, but that did nothing to help him. Bizarrely, the blood he spilled was simply stuck in the air, prevented from falling by an invisible barrier!

“Bastards! Who are you? Who would do this to me?!”

“Hohoho~ Who do you think it is?”

An old man walked out of the darkness. It was an old man that looked like a tree, with not a bit of human flesh left on his body.

Macaw, the White Charcoal.

“Macaw! How did you… You’re not all from… You’re all from different organizations…”

“That was years ago. In the dungeon, we decided to serve our one true God.”

“What…?! What are you…”

“Our God wants things to change. He wants justice to blossom in this land. So let’s get rid of unjust scum like you.”

“You… They have been fooled about you. You… you were hailed as a saint… But you…”

“Hohoho~ Goodbye then.”

Macaw snapped his fingers. Then,

Crush.

“ARGH!!”

The plants piercing through Domingo’s body burst out through his skin and started to grow. As they grew, they sucked out all his blood and used it as fodder.

In but a few moments, his body turned to dust and scattered.

“Hohoho. Let’s get out of here. Our Lord wants justice.”

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

«There are eighty-two high-level Hunters. And they mutated into monsters, making them even stronger. With them, it is not impossible to even overthrow the Philippine government, should you so desire.»

‘I guess it’s not that hard to start a coup and conquer a country…’

«Well, it is only possible because the Philippines’ economic structure is weak and the level of fraud and corruption is high. And they do not even have to resort to treason.»

‘You mean we can just wipe out all the criminal organizations?’

«Yes, Master. We can wipe out the criminal organizations and assassinate the people who were in bed with them. After that, it will not be hard to get the country back on track by cajoling and intimidating the president and the politicians. Besides, they are not your average Hunters, are they?»

‘I know. They are connected to many factions.’

«As far as I can tell, the eighty-two Hunters who have fallen under your control are connected to twelve different factions, and because they have been pivotal in those factions, they can mobilize the power of those factions. And you are not trying to dominate this country, right? You are just trying to bring it back to normal, to build its strength, and to make it so that it can stand on its own to defend itself in the future from an unprecedented and catastrophic crisis. They are all happy to follow you, and that is the power of this plan, Master.»

‘That… is scary…. By the way, the skills I bought last time, [Brain Spiritualization] and [God’s Language], seem to be helping you.’

«Yes, of course, Master. I can now understand all programming languages, which allowed me to hack into the Internet, which gave me access to information from the United States government.»

‘I think I’m more afraid of you right now than anybody else, Cheok-Liang.’

«Going back to what we were talking about earlier, with the transformation of the Philippines, the economic market of a country of eighty million people will be under your power, Master.»

‘Eh? Why?’

«Because they are going to distribute Jungjin and Jungha Group’s products, and the quality of Jungha Group’s products is one of the best in the world. Once the Philippine government gets involved, the products of Jungha Group will spread quickly across the country, Master.»

‘Isn’t that crony capitalism? However, that may be necessary…‘

«If we were to distribute all of your potions there, we would be able to attract a huge amount of money. Partnering up with Ji-Han was an excellent choice, Master.»

‘I was not thinking that far ahead… Anyway, that’s great. What’s next?’

«The first thing you have to do is take care of the SL Group, punish them, and put Korea under your feet!»

‘Don’t say stuff like that… Why would I put my own country under my feet…’

With that, Ji-Cheok clicked his tongue and looked out the window. Down below, he could see the city lights of Seoul. Any minute now, they would be landing at the airport.

‘I almost died on this business trip. Thank God(?) I’m good now. But that doesn’t mean I can rest. I still have a lot of work to do in Korea.’

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

‘Yeah, I have to admit, I underestimated Korea.’

«I knew about it, Master.»

‘How did you know?’

«Please remember that I hacked the literal Internet, Master.»

‘Yeah, hacking is pretty scary.’

«We live in the information age, Master. The Internet encompasses the world, and it is fairly easy for me to do these things, since you gave me free rein.»

‘O…okay. I should have given you the skills sooner.’

«It is my fault, Master.»

‘No, no. I wouldn’t say it’s your fault. I didn’t think of that either. So, what are we going to do with them anyway?’

“Mr. Um Ji-Cheok! I’d like a word with you!”

“Director Ji-Han! Tell us what you were promised in return by the Philippine government…”

“Could you tell us the reason why the Jungha Group’s stock is soaring…”

Reporters from all media companies imaginable had been literally camping at the terminal, and they were now screaming as they finally saw the team leave the security zone. Thousands of flashes blinded the team as the reporters swarmed them, ratting out questions at the pace of a well-oiled machine gun.

If it had been just the reporters, Ji-Cheok would have been fine.

“Helloo~ Bbuni Bbuni~ This is Kim Bbuni from the Bbuni Channel! I am at the Incheon International Airport~ Look over there! Um Ji-Cheok just landed! You know him right? The one who cut the God in half with his Augmented Sword Qi,” screamed a GodTube streamer.

There were a lot of other GodTubers nearby as well.

“Um Ji-Cheok! Explain the stock price manipulation~!”

Cheok-Liang angrily intervened at the GodTuber’s accusation.

«Master, you did nothing of the sort! It was not stock price manipulation. It was the byproduct of self-fulfillment!»

Cheok-Liang was right. One day after the pharmaceutical companies hired mercenaries to terrorize his factory, Ji-Cheok forcibly started mass producing his potions so that he could nip the whole thing in the bud. And while he was at it, he shorted more of his competitors’ stocks to earn some more money.

‘Revenge doesn’t have to be self-destructive. It can also be done with future value creation and positivity.’

«If you are so angry, you can talk to the pharmaceutical company that hired mercenaries!»

Find the original at "pawread dot com".

Cheok-Liang angrily cursed at the GodTuber, but due to him being a fennec, all people could hear was a little cute fox barking at them.

Ji-Cheok’s mind was already set on the positive and forward-thinking revenge that he had told his advisor about, so he didn’t mind all the commotion.

“Here comes Um Ji-Cheok, the guardian of Korean stocks!”

“Please subscribe and like the KOSDAQ[1] Chicken Channel!”

If some people lost money because of him, there had to be people who earned money thanks to him. There were many stocks that soared due to him. And to the owners of these stocks, he was a God.

“Um Ji-Cheok! What is your next business idea?”

“You have already started to accumulate an astronomical fortune, are you going to continue being a GodTuber?”

There were a lot of reporters and GodTubers there, and it was complete chaos. Ji-Cheok’s team only had a few members, but the number of people gathered here to question them was over a hundred. This was shocking even for Ji-Cheok, who had defeated a God.

“Hyung, you are so popular!” Mu-Cheok said while smiling.

“I guess I am… I guess it’s good, it helps me earn some extra Likes…I guess…”

“Brother Ji-Cheok. Don’t you think we should move? Standing here is an inconvenience to others as well…”

They decided to move out, but there were simply too many reporters. Thankfully, people from the Jungha Group and airport security soon appeared through the crowd of reporters.

“Please move out of the way!”

“Don’t push me! I’m a reporter!”

There was a lot of shouting.

“We are going to have a press conference in two hours. We have a place set up, so please ask your questions there!”

Ji-Han spoke up, and they were able to move past the reporters and GodTubers.

They all got in the back of a huge limousine bus. The interior was extremely luxurious, and it had not leather couches, but even actual beds inside. They put their luggage in the trunk and they all sat down, looking at each other with confused expressions.

“Wow…uh…when did we become this popular? Is what happened in the Philippines that big of a deal?”

“It’s because my brother posted a video about it.”

Mu-Cheok replied to Ha-Na’s question.

“You mean the video of you cutting the God in half? How many views does that video have?”

«It has just passed 1.2 billion views, Master.»

“It’s over 1.2 billion views,” Ji-Cheok said.

“Oh, really?”

“It still has a long way to go. I heard that the highest number of views on GodTube is 8 billion.”

“You’re so greedy, Ji-Cheok! Well… since you are a superstar now, I guess you should be aiming high, right?”

“Of course! I am a God now, and I don’t want to get fewer views than an ordinary GodTuber.”

‘That’s right. I’m not just a God, I am a Godly streamer! And I am not just a streamer, I am a streaming God! And yet, I’m getting fewer views than mere mortals! That’s not good for my face! I need to be the Nr. 1 Liked Godtuber! Also, I need to be number one in views and number one most subscribed to as well!’

“Well, let’s take a break here, and then we can do some interviews. If you do not wish to be interviewed, tell me now.”

“I’ll pass.”

“Me too~”

Mu-Cheok and Reable directly declined the interviews.

“I don’t wanna go either!”

“I’m out too.”

Ha-Na and Seong Kwang also said no.

‘What the hell? They’re all out.’

“Okay then. It will be just me, Um Ji-Cheok, and Jung Ji-Byeok.”

They all nodded and flopped down on the bed.

1. KOSDAQ is a trading board of the Korean Stock Exchange. ☜