Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 21

‘I need a narrative to sell?…. What?’

Ji-Cheok wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. He had lost track of how many times he had to ask Mu-Cheok to explain the concept again.

— Okay look, Hyung. People always want to help the poor. Regardless of the reason, beating up a guy to the pulp isn’t a great or sustainable look. If this continues with other people you fight, people might start sympathizing with Shelton, because he starts looking like the underdog, That, unless you change your narrative. Do you know what people like more than helping the poor?

Mu-Cheok’s eyes had lit up as he got excited at what he was about to say.

— Fighting evil! Make it clear that you’re the hero. People are suckers for this. Why do you think they pay money to watch superhero movies, make mean comments against the villains, and then shake their fists in the air when their favorite hero loses a fight?

It was a good thing that Mu-Cheok had left the field of law. Someone with his motivation to change the world couldn’t achieve that goal by working in an enormous office building as a judge or lawyer. Ji-Cheok was relieved that Mu-Cheok would become the future of Korea, as a Hunter.

Sure enough, the news about Shelton spread like wildfire. He was canceled, as his skill attack on someone that wasn’t Awakened was largely condemned. Meanwhile, Ji-Cheok was painted as the apostle of justice and praised for punishing Shelton. Fortunately, people did see Ji-Cheok as the hero that fought the evil Shelton.

— I’m not wrong, right? You have to agree that it’s true.?Mu-Cheok had said.

It didn’t matter what Shelton’s opinions were when the video was first uploaded. He belonged to Jung Ji-Han from the start. Ji-Han’s uncle had no stake in Shelton even though he was the one who had pressured Ji-Han to take him in. This was because Shelton had signed a contract with Ji-Han’s company only, and that contract included exclusive image rights. It was already wild that Hunters in this world were regarded as royalty, but that came with responsibilities - namely, keeping a pristine reputation.

On top of that, the fight was pretty close. This wasn’t remotely close to anything Ji-Han’s uncle would have imagined, as he had expected Shelton to hold his own. Now, Shelton’s face was plastered everywhere in Korea and online. His image rights were making him lots of money.

- Shelton? How am I not surprised he acts the same way as all the other rednecks from America. Every redneck seems to have such a shitty personality.

?Lookee here! We have a racist!

?He used his skills to attack an ordinary civilian. What does race have to do anything with this?

?Report this user for racism… Fucking Asian incel. I wish I never met these terrible people in person.?

- Is the younger brother in the video okay? I’m worried about him.?

?Isn’t he okay? There haven’t been any obituaries about him on the news.

? An article just popped up saying that he is okay.

Those were the first GodTube comments out of many that condemned the comment on Shelton’s skin color. People were fairly angry at Shelton, but that didn’t make racist remarks okay. The next comments were about how people were surprised by the skills used by Ji-Cheok.

- Wow! That’s fricking awesome!!! Isn’t Shelton one of the best Hunters in terms of defensive abilities? To think that a rookie who hasn’t even taken the Hunter exam has beaten him!

-Did anyone else see how he activated his buffs and movement reinforcement simultaneously in the first 10 seconds of the fight!? Did I see that right??

?You are, before he hit Shelton, he also threw a curse skill at him.?

? Holy shit, is this person even human?……. Damn.

- Did this newbie just show this top defensive Hunter a little combat 101? How is this real?

?You bet your sweet ass.

- Man Shelton’s fans are going to lose their fucking minds. Don’t think there’ll be any fans left after this.?

- Using that cheap skill on someone who doesn’t have any abilities and then getting destroyed by a newbie says it all.?

?Didn’t he concede from attacking until the other got three moves in? Who wouldn’t win if they were given three moves to attack?

?Yo, looks like we have a Shelton fan here!

?Even though they said three moves, did you not see the damage done by one long-range attack? Are you blind

?He used his magic to throw a gazillion arrows at once. How is that one attack? Motherf***** you’re the one that’s blind.

?Are you a dumb***? With your logic, might as well say that each grain of rice you eat is one meal.

- Hunter Critic Icarus here. The first magic attack seems to be used to check the opponent. Whether you count each arrow or the whole flurry of them as one move differs between Hunters. Even if you found that out, the arrows don’t really seem to play a major role in this battle.?

? Either way, Shelton would have destroyed the other guy if he properly fought him face to face.?

? I’m asking this because I’m actually curious. Are you so loyal to that foreign criminal you’d suck his dick? I’ve never met anyone who’s willingly wanted to live this disgusting lifestyle.?

- Look ↗Low?Investment?High Profit ?You too can be like ?Um Ji-Cheok?↗In the Hunter Store★You can purchase now? Special Discount now 15% off ☆Buy the services of the ◆Scrooge Company!

?What’s this? Why does this account have no username lololol. How did something like this get through the spam filters haha. GodTube? More like SpamTube!

A new video was uploaded after the first two of Mu-Cheok and Ji-Cheok sparring with Shelton had become viral. It showed another fight between Ji-Cheok and Shelton going head-to-head, but this time Shelton didn’t refrain from attacking.

After Shelton’s initial loss, Ji-Cheok had approached him for a rematch. He wanted a proper fight without any handicaps or skills at all. It looked like a great deal, so Shelton shook on it. It was an opportunity for revenge and to get out of having to stick his head into the ground. What Shelton didn’t know was that he had made the worst decision of his life.

The result of the fight was the same as the first: a devastating K.O.

At some point, when Ji-Cheok threw Shelton on the ground, it triggered the memory of Mu-Cheok flying in the air and getting crushed against the wall. An infuriated Ji-Cheok continued to stomp on Shelton even harder with no plan of stopping. Shelton had completely underestimated Ji-Cheok’s physical ability and the moment Shelton’s second defeat was all over the news, whatever was left of Shelton’s fandom, completely collapsed.

- Ah, looks like Shelton is done for.?

- So long, my old Shelton oppa. I will not be staying to see you become irrelevant.

- I definitely prefer Ji-Cheok’s looks. Look at how much he’s bulked up right now.?

- Ji-Cheok is a Hyung with such a good-looking face and body. Plus, his fighting skills are so OP. Notice me Hyung!

? Better f***ing line up hoe?

? Look at how this person with abilities just throws out curse words left and right. Why can’t you be civilized? This guy did nothing to provoke you.

- Hyung! I want to wash your underwear!!

? OMG! You better be ready to present your findings when you do.

- Damn, it looks like Shelton got defeated by the newbie fair and square. But why the hell hasn’t he gone to jail for assaulting that civilian with his skills??

? Seems like the Foreign Ministry is protecting his ass since he’s a foreigner. It wasn’t like he killed anybody though, and it’s pretty hard to sue him for doing that in a fighting match.?

? International Hunter Law… Motherf***ers

- LOL Shelton got rekt ahahaha and then got rekt again haaaa

- The moment Shelton stopped doing what he always did was when his combat and fighting were no longer the same.?

- Today will be the day I’ll stop hiding behind the shadows and show my open support for Um Ji-Cheok. Um Ji-Cheok and I are now one body. Any attack on Um Ji-Cheok will be an attack on me.?

- Um Ji-Cheok is so cool.

- I’ve been cheering for you ever since you’ve rescued my daughter! I’m glad you’re alright. I can’t imagine how painful it was to see your brother get hurt… Thank you for posting this video about your life as a Hunter. I wish your family a speedy recovery…

-With your small ★Investment?your Destiny?can be fixed↗人Opportunity↗of a◆Lifetime! You too◆can be like◇Um Ji-Cheok↗↗Wishing everyone ☆good fortunes★Scrooge★ Company?

?What the hell is this? Why isn’t there any username listed on this account?

With all sorts of people on the internet, it made sense that people had different reactions. There were some that were definitely out of their minds with the way they commented, but Ji-Cheok didn’t care. As long as they could get him more Likes, that was all that mattered. Creepy accounts were typically reported, then they’d be suspended for a certain amount of time or deleted — the latter sometimes happened after repeated offenses.

‘Usually both will happen,’?Ji-Cheok thought to himself.

He thought he saw a familiar account in the comments, but didn’t care to look any further into it, as it was labeled as spam. There wasn’t anything valuable to look at in the spam folder, so he turned his focus elsewhere.

Shelton’s downfall was a treat for Ji-Cheok to watch. Seeing how there were comments in different languages, the news must have spread outside of Korea. Ji-Cheok scrolled through and clicked on the automatic machine translations, but there were far too many, so he only paid attention to the Korean comments.

With the news having spread everywhere, Ji-Han had no choice and removed Shelton from his position as a Hunter. Whether Ji-Han’s uncle was involved in the company management discussions was a mystery, but in any case, Shelton was no longer affiliated with the Jungha Group.

Ji-Han spoke with a gleam in his eye.

— It seems like anything that happens to Mr. Um Ji-Cheok is a big deal. That’s quite interesting, but it’s impeding my responsibilities. Is he that valuable? Is this what you call the Nobleman from the East?”

‘Why is Ji-Han being so presumptuous? He doesn’t know everything that’s going on!’

Ring!-

[You have received 1 Like.]

Suddenly, an immense amount of Likes started coming in. Ji-Cheok had spent his last batch purchasing new skills, but they were now piling in again at an unbelievable rate.

‘Right now, I just received… 7,281 Likes.’

Word had spread throughout the internet. People didn’t need the news to watch the videos of what happened. His videos also spread through the communities. The Likes he just earned right now were fewer compared to the 80,000+ he had received after fending off the gate Seoul and being on national television.

His videos were being recommended at an impressive rate, according to Ji-Han. Ji-Cheok’s fight with Shelton had reached the No. 1 Recommended video on the GodTube’s Trending page.

‘I don’t think it matters whether I advertise or not. My video is on the top recommended list.”?Ji-Cheok gleefully thought.

He made it so that people could share a link to their friends and families, so that everyone could watch it on GodTube. It seemed to be working, looking at the rising view count.

“Hyung, I’m so glad you dressed well today. Did the dress coordinator plan it out for you?” asked Mu-Cheok.

“Yup, I’m now the face of ‘Jungjin’.”

Jungjin meant ‘to keep moving forward’, and it was the Jungha Group subsidiary that Ji-Cheok was now a part of. It was so close to the pronunciation of Jung Ji-Han’s name that it seemed to be done on purpose.

Come to think of it, it was pretty weird. The Jungha group named their grandchildren, who were all Awakened, according to their corresponding abilities.

The names of these grandchildren were so unique that there had even been a TV Show dedicated to figuring out what they meant.

– An elementalist that wields water and ice. Simple, but strong! On top of that, they have the ability to heal others!

Jung! Su-Gi!

– The ability to build anything on the spot with their construction skills! Wherever they are, they can quickly put together a house!

Jung! Nam-Hyang!

– The mechanical master can bring her machines to life! No matter how broken a machine is, she can make it better than it ever was!

Jung! Bi-Ga!

……

The TV show fell as quickly as it rose and disappeared without a trace after its broadcast.

‘Jung Man-Deuk must be wacko for naming his kids like that.’

It must have been tough on the grandchildren, as they couldn’t just openly criticize their powerful grandfather, who was the head of the whole chaebol.

In any case, Ji-Cheok couldn’t really say anything because his own full name was pretty strange too. The problem was, would those grandchildren see Jung Man-Deuk as a grandfather, or simply as competition that had to be dethroned? With how oddly he had named his grandchildren, did they want revenge?

Surely Jung Man-Deuk must have had some prophetic abilities, but that wasn’t enough to show that he wasn’t crazy for settling on those names.

‘Oh, grandpa.’ Ji-Cheok felt guilty as he was crapping on another family’s grandfather, while his grandfather had given him such an odd name too. Morally, he felt wrong thinking about this.

He then remembered Ji-Han’s name. If he were to follow Jung Man-Deuk’s method of naming his grandchildren, there was no doubt that the name ‘Jung Ji-Han’ had to be related to his skills.

‘It must have something to do with stopping an object!’

Ji-Han had never shown Ji-Cheok anything, even during training, so he wasn’t too sure.

Moreover, Ji-Han must have thought that Ji-Cheok dressed poorly or something, with how he went out of his way to get Ji-Cheok the best dress coordinator and stylist. Ji-Cheok now felt fancy as he sat inside the car.

“Good luck, Hyung! Do well, and I’ll see you in a bit!”

Mu-Cheok pulled up to the entrance and a group of people swarmed the car.

‘Maybe they don’t know it’s me with the tint in the windows.’ Ji-Cheok thought, but he was completely wrong.

When he opened the door, lightning-like flashes bombarded him.

“Whoaaa!”

A handmade placard read ‘Umji! Gumji is here!’ They were the representatives of Ji-Cheok’s own fan club! Since the “Umji” part of his name meant “thumb”, they had called themselves “gumji”, which meant “index finger”.

There weren't a lot of journalists, but instead, there were many random people holding up huge cameras.

—Hyung, you have to smile at the?paparazzi fans,?Mu-Cheok had told him.

“What’s a paparazzi fan?”

“An important person.”?

Ji-Cheok had felt like an old man who didn’t know all this ‘young people stuff’, and for the same reason, he had been too embarrassed to ask more questions. In addition, Mu-Cheok had told him that he would find out by himself soon enough.

With a soft smile, Ji-Cheok looked into the cameras, and the click of shutters grew louder.

‘So this is how it feels!’

There was this feeling of gratefulness that Ji-Cheok noticed and the placard that someone had written on gave him more confidence.

When Ji-Cheok reached the top of the stairs, he took a deep, respectful bow to acknowledge the paparazzi fans and then walked inside.

It was time for the Hunter exam.

1. elder brother or close elder male friend of a female

2. Exaggerated way of saying “Wow you’re just too amazing.”

3. Su-Gi refers to the ability to control water. Also, the full name ‘Jung Su-Gi’ means ‘water purification system’.

4. Nam-Hyang means ‘South-face’, which refers to south-facing houses that are ideal as they are cool in the summer, but also face full sunlight in the winter.

5. As previously explained, Bi-Ga means someone well-equipped to make upgrades

6. In the original, Mu-Cheok tells Ji-Cheok to smile at the ‘homma’, which is an abbreviation for ‘homepage master’—the Korean term for fans who run their own social media and publish pictures of celebrities. Ji-Cheok asks ‘what’s a homma’, and Mu-Cheok tells him ‘homepage master’, but doesn’t explain any further, stating that Ji-CHeok would find out when he met them.