Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 229

‘I see. Then let’s clear out the domestic dungeons with my clones! That way, we will have the slightest chance of survival if the Dungeon Breaks don’t happen all at once.’

Besides, Korea was a small country. Even if they took their time, people could drive from Seoul to Busan in six hours. If they took KTX, it took even less than that. Also, he was in the potion industry, which meant that his own potion consumption was but a drop in the ocean. That meant that he could clear ten low-level dungeons a day using his clones.

“With that, I would like to thank all of you for tuning in today, and as always please Like and subscribe!”

With this closing comment, the livestream ended.

Ji-Cheok looked around. He was now back on Earth, and his staff was gathered at the entrance of the dungeon, waiting to grab the resources from the dungeon.

“Thanks for all the help, guys!” said Ji-Cheok.

“Leave it to us!”

The staff set to work. Meanwhile, his clone soared to the sky and began to fly around. Ji-Cheok was planning to prioritize destroying dungeons in South Korea that were unpopular and therefore less likely to have other teams do the work, and while at it, he wanted to destroy dungeons in the abandoned and Manaformed North Korea.

?That is a great idea, Master.?

‘Yeah, we need to do this now. The world is literally about to end.’

-I still can’t get over the fact that Ji-Cheok’s dance moves are exquisite.

-I’m in trouble. Umji is so good at the Zero Two Dance! What is he going to become when he gets older? The only thing he could do is to marry me… Umji, I love you! T_T T_T

-The reason why Umji is a tough cookie: Even though he is one of the most famous GodTuber, he still practices his dance for the viewers.

‘Come on, let’s go! My clones! I need to practice more of my dance moves.’

? ? ?

Ji-Cheok had been to only one dungeon and had done only one livestream after coming back from the Philippines.

Before that adventure, clearing dungeons and livestreaming had been his daily routine. Now, it was completely different.

‘It just feels like my position in the world has changed… But, my Likes are always right.’

It had been an hour since he ended the [Land of Walking Boulders] livestream. Yet, he had already gotten ten million Likes! It was a terrifying pace that could not be compared to the old days. Even his past videos were still getting Likes, so the number of Likes coming in was staggering.

“This seems like a lot of Likes, but it is still not enough to save the world, right?”

?You are right, Master. I did some calculations on how much you need to buy a dimensional barrier purely with your Likes… It would take about 100 billion Likes.?

‘One hundred billion?! That’s insane!’

Even if everyone in the world gave one Like every single day to Ji-Cheok, it would still take a couple of months.

‘Sure, I’m an international star, but not everyone on Earth knows who I am. And not all of them would give me a Like anyway.’

?Recently, you have been earning about 50 million Likes a day when you do not post videos. If you upload daily videos as you did in the past, you will be earning around 100 million Likes a day.?

Cheok-Liang wagged his tail.

?Of course, this is just the minimum estimation. Since we have been running that big campaign in the Philippines lately, we are expecting an additional 100 million Likes per day from that side. So I am guessing we will get around 200 million Likes per day!?

‘Two hundred million a day! That’s still amazing…’

?And if you do a special video, like the one with slaying the God, you can average about eight billion Likes per month, Master.?

‘8 billion Likes a month… Even so, that would take us thirteen months to earn a hundred billion.’

?Eventually, we have to use resources from this world. The Philippines has a national budget of 90 to 110 trillion won per year. If we spend 10 trillion won on the construction of the dimensional barrier, we can save about 500 million Likes.?

‘So you’re saying five hundred million Likes is worth around ten trillion won, right?’

?The actual economy is always fluctuating, so there is a large margin of error, but roughly, that is the price, Master.?

‘So how much would it be if we only spent money to build the dimensional barrier?’

?We could do it with about two hundred trillion won, Master.?

‘Two hundred trillion won… The United States has been nicknamed the?Land of the?Quadrillion because its annual defense spending has hovered around one quadrillion?won?mark.?So you are saying we need to spend twice that for building a dimensional barrier, right?’

Actually, it seemed possible to raise that amount of money if the governments of the world realized that the world was doomed. Given the resources of the entire human race, it was possible. But there was one reason Ji-Cheok didn’t think it was actually doable in practice.

They wouldn’t believe him.

Nobody would believe that the apocalypse would come so suddenly.

‘Whoever believes that kinda stuff will be instantly labeled as some sort of cultist.’

?But, Master, it is not about the money. It is about construction time. Hunters’ abilities can be used in construction, allowing them to build and construct at high speeds, but even that is not enough. We have to build two pillars that are each fifty kilometers long.?

‘Oh right, I didn’t think about that part.’

?Still, if you just get the materials and build it using your skills, you can build it with about … one hundred trillion won.?

So I would use about one hundred trillion won in resources and combine them with my skills. Hm… That’s a good idea, but getting one hundred trillion won is still a problem. How on earth could I get that much money? And I’m sure the God worshippers are going to interfere.’

?Yes, Master. The upper class of our society may already be in bed with them. When the end of the world comes, they believe they can survive if they are under the protection of the God they worship.?

‘Those traitors… Then, we will have to move fast. First, I will have to track down and deal with all of the God worshipers in Korea.’

The good news was that he would be able to recognize them when he saw them. He had been unable to do that before, but now that he was a God, it was possible.

‘It’s just that I can’t go door-to-door looking for them—’

Ding-dong~

Ji-Cheok was sitting cross-legged, training his Qi and organizing his thoughts, when the doorbell rang.

Mu-Cheok had gone to clear some dungeons with the other team members, but Ji-Cheok stayed home because he had other things to do. Ji-Han and Reable also didn’t go, but Ji-Cheok believed the other team members were strong enough to clear the dungeons by themselves, so he was not worried. Thus, Ji-Cheok was surprised by the doorbell.

‘I’m not expecting anyone…’

Ji-Cheok got up and looked at the intercom screen. In front of the door stood a man with very bright blonde hair.

‘Who the hell is this guy?’

—Hello, Mr. Um Ji-Cheok. My name is James Kim, from Golden Horizon, representing SL Chemicals.

?There is an old saying, a man of good intentions does not come to visit easily, and those who come of their own volition do not come with good intentions. Still, I think we should still hear him out, Master.?

‘Yeah, you’re right. Never mind the fact that he is representing SL Chemicals, but the name Golden Horizon sounds so cheesy. I’m curious. Maybe… it’s some kind of cult?’

Ji-Cheok let him into the house.

? ? ?

“My name is James Kim, from the Korean branch of Golden Horizon. It is an honor to meet you.”

James Kim held out his business card to Ji-Cheok. The business card looked fancy and it was all in English.

?I did a quick research on Golden Horizon, Master. They are not well known in Korea, but they are very powerful and one of the largest organizations in the United States. They are funded by some of the biggest conglomerate owners, with deep roots in the United States. To put it simply, you can say that this organization is a coalition of conglomerates. The Korean branch was founded two years ago, and they are currently trying to connect with chaebol families in South Korea. And I have found some evidence that seems to indicate that they are God worshipers.?

‘Really? What kind?’

?I have found several videos of them performing rituals to a God, including human sacrifices.?

‘What the hell, they’re crazy!’

Even as he thought that to himself, Ji-Cheok handed the man his business card. Ji-Han had made business cards for him, thinking that he would need some in the future.

“I am Um Ji-Cheok, Finance Director of Jungjin.”

Since he had some stock in the company, his title was now ‘director.’ He didn’t actually do anything management-wise, but it didn’t matter since he was in charge of the actual potion production.

“So, you said that you are here on behalf of SL Chemicals… Forgive me, but I do not know anything about this organization called Golden Horizon. Are you an agency or do you specialize in negotiations?” Ji-Cheok asked.

“It is a shame that you don’t know about us, Mr. Ji_Cheok. We are a Monster Industry Coalition located in the United States. We are overshadowed by GOF and ABM, but let me assure you, we are just as powerful as those two companies.”

?It is true, Master. GOF is the largest in terms of size and ABM is the strongest in terms of quality, but Golden Horizon is just below them. However, they are not well covered by the mainstream media in Korea, so they are less recognized here.?

‘So you’re saying that Golden Horizon is the third most powerful organization in the United States. It seems weird that they are not recognized in Korea.’

?It is possible that they intentionally intervened and suppressed the information, but I am not sure. Maybe Koreans just do not pay much attention to them. They are number three in the United States, but they do not invest very much in external marketing the way GodTube does.?

‘That makes them even more suspicious… They’re good at killing monsters and making money, but they don’t show it off?’

Of course, most of the information about every country’s top-tier Hunters was secret, but the United States was the originator of heroization. In the United States, it was common for Hunters to be titled Something-Man or Something-Woman and appear on TV like movie superheroes. They did that to some extent in Korea, but it was simply not on the same scale as in the United States.

“I see. I’m sorry that I’m not familiar with Golden Horizon, but I’m still curious… Why are you here on behalf of SL Chemicals?”

“Because Golden Horizon has a partnership agreement with SL Chemicals, which is why I’m here to see you, Mr. Ji-Cheok.”

“I think I get the gist of it… But what is it that you want?”

James smirked at Ji-Cheok’s crankiness.

“Would you be willing to allow SL Chemicals to produce and sell the Likes potions that you are producing right now?”

“......”

“While the parent company of Jungjin, the Jungha Group, is a huge corporation, their distribution network is all about high-tech electronics. In the case of Jung Bi-Ga’s technology, it’s more often military. But SL Chemicals already has a huge presence in the Korean distribution of pharmaceuticals, and the same is true abroad.”

?If you take the emotion out of your decision, this is a very good offer, Master. It is a win-win situation, because, at this rate, SL Chemicals is going to go bankrupt, so if they can establish themselves as a distribution company, they might have a chance of survival in the industry.?

‘Wow… Talk about persistence. SL Chemicals… They’re something else.’

Unfortunately, Ji-Cheok remembered very well how the company had tried to have him killed.

“I see. Well, just in case you don’t know… But is Golden Horizon aware that SL Chemicals tried to assassinate me?”

‘Let’s see how he reacts to that, shall we?’

“Of course. It was Golden Horizon that introduced the assassin to SL Chemicals. I do feel embarrassed because the assassin didn’t do a very good job. But that’s business. Incidents like that are common.”

‘Huh. This guy is something else.’

1. KTX or Korea Train eXpress, is South Korea’s high-speed rail system.

2. A Korean name for the US is 天朝國 (??? — Cheonjo-gug, ‘Country of Heavenly Providence’). This is pronounced the same as 千兆國 (Country of the Quadrillion), which has become internet slang for the US due to the country’s military budget.