Thumbs Up, Level Up

For a while, they took a rest and watched the video. In the meantime, Mu-Cheok sipped on the potions he had in his pouch.

“Sigh. My brother’s doing everything he can to save the world, I need to do the same.”

“That’s a good attitude, Brother Mu-Cheok. I think your brother would be proud of you.”

“Right? Let’s keep going.”

Mu-Cheok pressed down on his palm. A hole appeared in his palm, and an orb slipped out of it. The orb rose into the sky and began to glow. The entire dungeon shook as the sphere emitted strange waves of soft light.

Moments later, the dungeon Core appeared before them. It was not a Demon, but rather a seemingly holy being.

It was an Angel!

An Angel had emerged as the dungeon Core!

“Is this some kind of sick joke?”

“You tell me.”

“Still, it doesn’t change anything, does it?”

Ji-Byeok smacked her fists together and dashed forward as the Angel slowly opened its eyes.

The team’s morale was high from watching the video of Ji-Cheok, and they all rushed toward the dungeon Core.

It was their way of making sure that they would not be left behind.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

It had only been a day since they had taken out the Cyclops’ faction, and in that time Ji-Cheok had gotten over seven hundred million total Likes. The Likes were coming in at a frightening pace, but for some reason, Ji-Cheok felt weird.

It just went to show that audiences were much more interested in overwhelming firepower and fun than they were in a great cause.

When he had saved the Tama Clan in the Philippines and taken down the [Slow Forest Shade], he hadn’t received this many Likes.

He had certainly gained popularity and recognition from those incidents, but it seemed like saving New Jersey, which was right in the heart of the United States, was more of a big deal to the people.

To put it bluntly, it was cooler to save the world’s most powerful country, the United States, than it was to save the Philippines, a country with an impoverished economy.

‘I guess I’m no different.’

Saving the poor was a heroic act, but saving the rich was good entertainment.

“Why did the human race become like this? Aren’t we supposed to be social animals?”

«I think you already know the answer to that. You know what humanity is like when you are gathering Likes.»

‘That’s true. Being a GodTuber is a weirdly introspective job.’

In front of him now was a new city that was being rapidly built around the World Tree. The effectiveness of the World Tree was known not only in Korea but also to other foreign countries, and a huge amount of money and resources had been invested in the area. The World Tree had grown so much that the Sacred Site was now a five-kilometer radius around the tree.

In total, there were about a dozen buildings and high-rise apartments that had already been completed with the power of the skills, rising dozens of meters above the ground.

‘Seong Kwang said it was his wish to use the postal service and convenience stores and have food delivered to him, and I’m just glad that I will be able to fulfill that wish.’

For the children at the orphanage, Jjajangmyeon[1] was a rare treat that they could only get when they went out of town. But now, the orphanage could finally have Jjajangmyeon delivered to the door.

And right now, Ji-Cheok was lying down on the terrace of his penthouse, on the top floor of the tallest building in the new town—one that the Jungha Group had built. He was talking to Cheok-Liang.

«And yet, you are so busy, Master.»

“Well, it’s hard work sometimes. Even God had to rest on the seventh day. And it’s not like I’m just lying down right now, is it?”

«Your clones are doing your work.»

Ji-Cheok had also invested his Likes in his clone skills, and their power was now up to fifty percent of the original. Their numbers had also increased, bringing the total to eight.

He had upgraded the skills just this afternoon, spending about one hundred million Likes. Even after spending one hundred million Likes, he still had seven hundred million left! He could not believe how many Likes were accumulating.

‘I guess this is the power of becoming a God. I became a world star just for saving New Jersey. I wish it was like that when I saved the Philippines. Is this the power of the United States? Is it because of the entertainment?’

«You got a call from Jung Bi-Ga, saying that she has taken care of the request from you today, starting with the ship.»

“How much money do I have right now?”

«Your assets are now over six trillion won in cash alone.»

‘What?!’

“When did I make that much money?”

«The hair growth pills and other potions are selling like hotcakes. In principle, every single potion produced is a potion sold. And since yesterday’s livestream, sales have been far surpassing production.»

“I’m running all my skills at full capacity, and I’m still not producing enough?”

«That’s what I said.»

‘That’s crazy. Now that I’m more famous, I guess the potions I make are selling even better.’

«Thanks to that, the potion industry around the world is in a state of emergency. It is because there is no competition in terms of price and quality. Normally, it would not be strange to receive threats and have acts of terrorism committed against you, but ever since the last livestream, it seems like the entire potion industry has become silent. »

“...”

«Well, that is understandable. If they even think about threatening you, they might have to deal with a couple of helix spears coming at them from a low earth orbit, and I feel that they would not be very fond of that.»

“I would never do that to them, Cheok-Liang. They’re civilians after all.”

«That is true. But, Master…»

“What?”

«Park Mak-Gi, the chairman of the SL Group, asks to speak to you.»

“Isn’t that the company that sent assassins to kill me?”

«Yes, Master.»

“Do I really need to meet with him? His company is going to die on its own if I just leave them alone.”

Ji-Cheok stroked Cheok-Liang’s thick fur and spoke softly.

‘Yeah, they’re gonna go out of business anyway. I don’t really need their factories or their infrastructures. I’m doing all of my potion-making with my skills anyway. I have nothing to gain from them. But I’m sure a lot of regular people working for the group will be unemployed overnight, but I can’t take care of that in this chaotic world.’

«Then I will send them a letter of refusal, Master.»

“Go ahead and do that. Oh, and about that six trillion won we have…”

«Yes, Master.»

“Send half of that to Bi-Ga and tell her to buy resources and start building the pillar at the North Pole first.”

The pillar required one quadrillion won to build. Bi-Ga’s one hundred billion won was merely enough to get the first shovel into the ground, but three trillion was enough to start the foundation.

«I will take care of that right away, Master. How would you like to proceed from here?»

“I’ll start with cleaning up the Manaforming forest in the North. While I do that, let’s wait to hear from Ji-Han.”

«Yes, Master.»

And while cleaning up the Manaforming forest, he was planning to further cultivate his Mind Sword, and if possible, reach the Mind Origin Sword Realm.

Actually, he could use Likes to purchase the Mind Origin Sword, but the price was not something he could afford, even as things were. Ten billion Likes! It took one hundred billion Likes to build the dimensional barrier, and the System wanted a tenth of that just for the Mind Origin Sword!

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‘Isn’t that crazy?’

Ji-Cheok stood up from his seat. He knew that Mu-Cheok and the other team members were also working hard, and he needed to catch up.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

The moment Ji-Cheok rushed back to the Manaforming forest in former North Korea, Ji-Han was meeting with the overlord of a huge corporate empire.

It was Jung Man-Deuk, the chairman of the Jungha Group.

He appeared to be a healthy old man and stood next to his grandson, Jung Su-Gi, whom he had practically designated as his successor just a year before.

“Long time no see, grandfather,” Ji-Han said.

“It’s hard to see my grandson’s face these days.”

“Well, I’ve been busy,” Ji-Han replied with an expressionless face.

Seeing him like that, Man-Deuk laughed.

“You sure were busy. Your company, Jungjin, has grown unexpectedly big.”

“Yes. It’s all thanks to Um Ji-Cheok, who took over as the production director.”

“And thanks to your ability to recruit such a competent worker?”

“Of course.”

For a moment, the two were silent.

“Okay, what are you going to do with the SL Group?” Man-Deuk asked.

“We are going to do nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Yes, nothing. We do not have time to bother with them.”

SL Group was a giant corporation, but every giant corporation had its own weaknesses. And when that weakness was exposed, even the biggest of companies could go down in a chain of failures.

In particular, SL Group relied mostly on their chemicals. Unless they could do something about the newly-established Jungjin, which already dominated the industry with various potions, there was no chance of them reviving their business.

There was only one way for them to survive. Namely, they had to get rid of their debt and completely eliminate their potion-related business. If they wanted to stay in the chemical industry, they had to transition to the specialized chemical compound field.

It meant tearing off a part of their colossal body and becoming weaker. It was technically possible for them to do it, but Ji-Han had doubts that it would work.

“If you covet the SL Group, you can keep it. All they can do is research chemicals and pharmaceuticals anyway.”

Even excluding potions, chemicals—and pharmaceuticals in particular—were high-value industries. In the pharmaceutical field, for instance, modern medicine was able to produce things that were simply not possible with potions at this point. In particular, while cancer drugs could be replaced by certain potions, those potions were impossible to mass produce.

There was an elixir that could cure absolutely all diseases, rightfully called [Panacea], and there was also the [Elixir Replica], which was a downgraded version of Panacea. The Elixir Replica was a surefire cure for cancer, but there were fewer than a hundred Alchemists in the world who could even make it at all, much less mass produce it, so its price was outrageous.

The average person would never be able to get their hands on it! That was why chemical and pharmaceutical companies were still working on a cheaper and more readily available cure for cancer.

Ji-Cheok, of course, could make that possible, but it would take time. And Ji-Han was well aware that Ji-Cheok did not have the time to produce such a thing.

That was why he planned on leaving SL Group alone. It was past the point where a single Korean chaebol could do anything to them anyway. It would not be even wrong to say that Jungjin was now actually making more money than the entire Jungha Group.

It was all thanks to Ji-Cheok.

“Is it because of that apocalypse theory or something?” Man-Deuk asked.

“Yes.”

“That’s a myth, grandpa.”

Su-Gi, who was next to the Chairman, interrupted him. His disbelief in the idea of the end of the world was palpable. In fact, he blatantly dismissed the whole theory.

‘You claim the world is going to end? On what basis? Did Gods make such revelations or oracles? Are we just going to believe the words of Stephanie Jessica, the Blind Prophetess? What is the evidence for her claim?’

As a powerful heir to the throne of the Jungha Group, Su-Gi had quite a bit of information at his disposal, but he didn’t quite believe it.

“They say that even in the United States, not many people believe in the prophecies of the Blind Prophetess.”

Man-Deok’s words were true. If the majority of people had believed in Stephanies’s prophecy, the uproar would have been far greater.

Those in the wealthy class of the United States had heard the prophecy, and those who believed it to be true had already formed a separate group. It was easy for them to believe in the prophecy because they were already predicting the end of the world based on the accounts in numerous religious prophecy books.

That was how Golden Horizon had come to be.

The non-believers had formed GOF. As for Adam Bronze of ABM, he did believe in the prophecy, but his attitude was sort of in the middle.

In any case, the point was that many of the rich and powerful were not taking the prophecy seriously. And Ji-Han knew this very well.

1. Jjajangmyeon is a Korean noodle dish with black bean sauce. It is one of the most common delivery foods in Korea. ☜