Thumbs Up, Level Up

While Reable was talking, Ji-Cheok got an alarm that the dungeon was destroyed. A moment later, he felt a force pulling him out of the dungeon and he appeared back in Antarctica.

The dungeon was gone, and the loot pouring out of it piled up like a mountain. At the same time, Ji-Cheok could feel the heat that had enveloped the entirety of Antarctica dissipate.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

“Huhuhu… You saw my power at the final moment, right?” Reable asked.

“Yeah, that was pretty awesome.”

“You can always leave the final moment to me! Rather than being captured like a bug and suffering a literal eternity of hellish torment, it might be better to have everything disappear neatly like that.”

Reable had an eerie, almost benevolent look on his face as he spoke. The disparity between his words and his expression was bizarre, but Ji-Cheok did not call him out on it. He knew that what Reable said was actually the truth.

In the future shown by Despair, the living envied the dead and begged for death. If there ever came a world where an easy death could be the only salvation, humanity would need the power of Reable.

«Master!»

After a moment of thought, Cheok-Liang swopped down from the sky.

With this, one thing on Ji-Cheok's to-do list was complete.

Ji-Cheok sighed in relief.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

-Holy shit! Who the hell is that Reable? I’ve never seen a Necromancer that strong!

-Where does Umji find those people?

-...That monster is the size of a mountain! What the hell is that?

-What’s Mind Sword? That looks so OP!

-Umji!! I love you! Gumji is always cheering for you!

-Umji is a God, and his grace shines upon us. Ah! Save us, Umji! Umji is a God, and his grace shines upon us. Ah! Save us, Umji! Umji is a God, and his grace shines upon us. Ah! Save us, Umji!

↳Alright, this dude is definitely crazy.

↳That just shows how great Umji is. He is already superhuman!

↳ I heard that the dungeon is the first-ever six-star dungeon.

↳ And it only took the two of them to destroy it… What a legendary duo.

-LOL. It looks like even the strongest dungeon can’t stop our Umji!

-UMJI. HERO.

-Other cultivators can’t even use Augmented Qi, let alone Mind Sword. I think Umji might be the strongest cultivator in the world.

-I read an article that said that if we had left that dungeon alone, it could have been the end of the world!

-My friend is a climatologist, and he says it wouldn’t have been the end of the world, just 30% of the human race drowning to death.

↳The fuck? Isn’t that the same thing?

↳No, 70% of the population would have lived. Well, there would have been a lot of chaos after that…

-Did Umji order the UN to help him? That’s amazing!

Ji-Cheok was back home. While resting and relaxing, Cheok-Liang posted a video of his dungeon run, which was edited accordingly, and it was no surprise that his number of Likes went up like crazy.

Reading through the comments on the video, everyone had something to say about it. Even foreigners were involved, and the number of views was growing at a frightening rate.

There were tons of nationalistic videos on GodTube, as expected, most of them about Ji-Cheok.

‘It’s a great feeling, really… Back in the day, I was so envious of those GodTubers who had all those loudmouthed patriots make videos about them. I can’t believe that’s me now.’

«You did a great job, Master.»

“Thank you, Cheok-Liang.”

«You are welcome. Please get a good night's sleep. I will take care of our affairs.»

“You have work to do? Wait, what am I saying… Of course you do.”

Ji-Cheok had solved the Antarctica problem, which in turn had stopped the tsunami from happening. However, they could not stop the wave completely, and there were some areas where the tsunami came in and people were killed or missing. The areas close to the South Pole were all affected by the rising tides.

Ji-Cheok suddenly sat up in bed. He wanted to rest, but it was not the time yet.

His body was not tired at all. The fatigue he was feeling was just mental.

“Put me through.”

«Yes, Master.»

Cheok-Liang did not stop him. The first one Ji-Cheok connected to was Jung Bi-Ga.

—Director Ji-Cheok. You’ve become so big! I think you might be the most popular person in the world!

She was smiling from ear to ear. He had never seen such a smile on Bi-Ga’s face before.

‘Wow. I never knew she could smile like that. It looks good on her.’

—I am contacting you to make sure the Antarctica stuff is taken care of. We need to get over there and build the dimensional barrier generator.

‘She called for business reasons. That’s good.’

“I will get on it right now. How is our funding?”

—You worked a miracle in Antarctica, so we have got some left over, and now we can ask for resources from other countries for legitimate reasons, so we should not run out of money.”

“Okay. I want you to take care of that as soon as possible.”

—Got it. I will get started right away. I will let you know if there are any problems. Good luck, savior of the planet.

With that, she ended the video call.

«She seems to have hope now.»

“Yeah, that’s good news.”

Without hope, how could a person live? Suicide was usually at the end of that road. Humans got through today knowing that tomorrow would eventually be better. It didn't have to be a dramatic improvement. Something like having a good meal or expecting better weather tomorrow could help them endure the day.

That was how powerful hope was, even if it didn't seem like much. Ji-Cheok needed to make sure that he gave people hope.

‘If I can’t…’

«Master, the next call is from A/B.»

“Put me through.”

«Yes, Master.»

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

“How… how could this happen…” Duke Graham Lake said.

He was the leader of Lake of Dawn, and the rightful heir to one of Britain’s most venerable ducal families. He was gazing in awe at an enormous water tank, made of pure silver and embossed with runes.

The magic of Water Mirror was one of the Secret Arts practiced even in the days before the Gates. There were only a few in the secret societies who could actually manipulate and use divine power, and Duke Lake was one of them.

Since the opening of the Dungeon Gate, they had been able to utilize the power of the Arcane and Secret Arts to a far greater degree than in the past and had even been able to communicate with the beings that Duke Lake had long worshiped.

With that power, he had taken control of Britain and spread his power across the world. While doing so, it was only natural that they faced their rivals.

Sephiroth Zohar and Mount Kunlun were among them, as were the Knights of the Round Table.

However, even he, who had grown his power by manipulating vested interests behind the scenes, had never seen anything like this before. He could not believe that there was actually a human being wielding the same power as a God.

“It can’t be… How can such power be granted to a mere mortal!”

“Well, it might be because he’s not actually a mortal, what do you think about that?”

“What? Who are you?!”

Duke Lake turned his head. This mysterious underground stone chamber had been created hundreds of years before for ritual purposes. After the cataclysmic events of the world, the entire place had been imbued with the power of the God, and no one was allowed to enter without permission.

In this private, shielded, and secretive space, an outsider had entered and was now casually speaking to Duke Lake.

‘This cannot be!’

“You must be… Jung Ji-Han from Korea. You are the helper of Um Ji-Cheok. How did you get here?”

“This underground stone chamber is imbued with the arcane magic of Nimueh. It was created by Nimueh to seal Merlin. I guess you find it surprising that I entered such a place unharmed.”

“How do you even know that? Who the hell are you?”

“I guess there is no reason for me to hide it. This is how I got in.”

Ji-Han, stern-faced and wearing a black suit as always, pulled out from his pocket a key the size of his palm.

Duke Lake stared in awe as powerful mana radiated from the key.

“That’s…”

“This is the Key of Pandora. Legend has it that Zeus, the God of Heaven, gave a box to Pandora and told her to never open it. Not a lot of people know this, but…”

“...?”

“The box contained a key. The box was an absolute Relic with the power of sealing…while the key was the exact opposite.”

Ji-Han paced forward, placing the key back in his pocket.

“Anything can be opened with this Key of Pandora. Even the bindings and seals placed by the Gods.”

“Nonsense! How can there be such a Relic? Zeus may be a mighty God, but so is our Lady of the Lake!” Duke Lake shouted.

Ji-Han snorted, his face expressionless.

“If I simply possessed the power of Zeus, I would not be able to pull off such a mighty move, but I have the power to overlap it.”

“What?!”

“And I already know, Duke of Lake, why you are stalling me with your meaningless questions. It’s not going to work.”

Ji-Han continued to walk toward him until he reached right in front of him.

“Do you have any idea how many times I have killed you?”

At that moment, Duke Lake drew his staff.

“I don’t know what you are talking about, but…castigate thine insolence!”

The silver water tank behind his back exploded with mana. A water dragon emerged from within, radiating a beautiful and noble mana. A terrifying amount of power flowed from the water dragon in waves.

The dragon raised its head and charged straight at Ji-Han.

Just as it was about to hit him, however, something unbelievable happened.

The dragon suddenly stopped in midair.

It did not stop of its own volition, nor was it the order of its master. Rather, it just stood still as if time had stopped, not even moving the most minute particle of mana.

“This… This is…”

“This is the Water Clock of Kronos. It manipulates time.”

In Ji-Han’s hand, there was an oddly shaped water clock. A stream of water gushed from the tail of the decorative dragon on the clock and entered its mouth.

The object, the size of a man’s palm, was radiating powerful mana.

“I was never able to prevent the catastrophes you caused—not until now, at least. As for your magic tricks, however… I’ve seen them way too many times to be surprised anymore.”

“You… you control time! How the hell? That’s… That item is…”

Kronos was said to have been born to Uranus and Gaia, and he was the God of time. Kronos was the fundamental being of Greek mythology, as he was said to have devoured Zeus, Hades, and all the other Gods, eventually leading to his own demise. An item from a God like that had to be tremendously powerful.

“You, too, are helpless before time.”

Ji-Han suddenly stood beside Duke Lake. His free hand glowed with an unreal blackness and drooped down on the Duke like a guillotine.

“ARGH!”