Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 240

Ji-Cheok’s power as a God lay in his ability to gain Likes and convert them directly into power. He had learned this after becoming a God. Gods, or any divine beings, could take the faith of other beings and turn it into power to add to their own.

It was a virtuous circle: the more powerful the God, the more powerful they could become. Normally, when someone saw a God that seemed extremely strong, they would say things like ‘Wow, that God is disgustingly strong.’ That was precisely what gave the Gods their power. The emotions of living beings were the nourishment of the Gods.

And Ji-Cheok’s Likes ability worked on enemies, too.

[You have received 112 Likes from Hopper Nelson.]

Just like right now.

‘But he’s giving more than I expected. Come to think of it, the Gods gave out over 1,000 Likes at a time, didn’t they? I guess the number of Likes depends on the strength of the opponent.’

Anyway, Ji-Cheok decided to respond to his words.

“I’m not an avatar.”

‘Lie! …Wait, you’re not lying?!”

“Huh… Then, how did you acquire such powerful strength?”

“Teach me! If you do, I will cooperate with you.”

‘That’s unexpected.’

For a moment, Ji-Cheok was speechless. If he had Cheok-Liang with him, he could have researched Ji-Cheok’s opponent and given him more information about who he was.

‘I guess you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. But right now, Cheok-Liang is off investigating other things, so I can’t rely on him.’

“Do you think I would believe you if you suddenly offered me something like that in the middle of a fight? This guy…”

“You can trust me.”

“Trust must be enforced. There are ways to make it happen.”

Hopper’s two puppets took turns speaking.

‘Can’t you just use one puppet for talking? You seem awfully in a hurry if you need to use two puppets to speak to me.’

“What is that method you’re speaking of?”

Since there was no harm in asking, Ji-Cheok spoke to Hopper.

“There is a contract made by the God of Contracts and Promises. The contract bound by the power of a God compels us to honor it.”

‘Hm… That’s very believable.’

A contract that contained the power of a God and was enforced by a God.

Ji-Cheok still did not know how it worked, but if it did, it was something he could fully trust. He crossed his arms, sheathing his swords at his sides.

Ji-Cheok searched the Likes Shop.

[Divine Contract]

[A contract made by the God of Contracts and Promises.

If the contract is broken, the God of Contracts and Promises takes the soul of the offending party.]

It was a contract that allowed the power of the God to enforce the agreement. With this description, Ji-Cheok believed Hopper.

“Alright, Hopper Nelson. I’ll teach you how to have the same power as me. Though I doubt you can.”

“You must teach me the whole truth.”

“You have to tell me everything.”

“I don’t want to do that. I won’t tell you a lie, but I can’t teach you everything. You’re trying to get your hands on the foundation of my ability. That’s not fair.”

The two puppets glared at Ji-Cheok.

“Fine.”

“Okay.”

“Then let’s make a contract,” Ji-Cheok said.

“Here is the contract.”

A contract appeared in front of them with a light, and its contents were visualized between Ji-Cheok and the puppets.

[1. Hopper Nelson and Um Ji-Cheok agree to the following terms and conditions of their own free will.

2. Um Ji-Cheok shall reveal to Hopper Nelson the incomplete secret of how he became strong.

3. Hopper Nelson shall not interfere with any of Um Ji-Cheok’s operations for one year.

4. The God of Contracts and Promises guarantees this agreement.]

“Hey, I can understand that you took out the clause about you cooperating with me, but it doesn’t make sense for me to settle for just one Hopper Nelson to not ‘interfere’ with my work.”

Even if Hopper did not interfere, other Golden Horizon members could. Even though Hopper was considered the CEO of Golden Horizon, Ji-Cheok didn’t know if he was the boss of the organization or not. He couldn’t agree to a deal like that.

“Golden Horizon is a vast organization. It’s true that the top brass make all the decisions, but I am just one of them. I need you to understand that I cannot dictate the actions of the entire organization,” Hopper said.

“Then, unfortunately, I can’t sign the contract.”

‘We have about eight hours to go until the start of the operation. Since I’ve torn Hopper’s mansion to shreds, he will have to sit on his ass and do nothing for at least the next few hours. I’m pretty happy with that.’

“I can see that you know your way around signing a contract.”

“Fine, since I am the one in a hurry…”

He snapped his fingers and paragraph three of the contract had changed.”

[3. Hopper Nelson will cooperate as much as possible with Um Ji-Cheok’s actions and requests for one year.]

“How is this?”

“If I cooperate, I can slow down the entire Golden Horizon.”

‘Hm… Getting an ally. Not bad. Okay, that sounds like a good idea, but…’

“I would like to add another condition,” Ji-Cheok said.

“What is it?”

“Tell me.”

“Let’s change it to ‘Hopper Nelson will cooperate as much as possible with Um Ji-Cheok’s actions and requests for one year, even if it means losing out.”

Hopper was silent for a moment.

“Fine.”

“I’m fine with it.”

The contract flew in front of him. Ji-Cheok placed his hand on it, and a message appeared.

[Do you wish to sign with Hopper Nelson? [Y / N]]

He pressed Y and the contract disappeared with a flash of light.

“Tell me.”

“How can I have the same power as you?”

“The way to do it is very simple, but not easy. You need to become a God,” Ji-Cheok said.

‘I am telling you the truth! The only way of being as powerful as me is to become a God!’

“What?!”

“Are you kidding me?”

“I’m telling you the truth! See, I still have my soul, don’t I? Hm… Do you want me to give you some additional information?”

Ji-Cheok crossed his arms and put one hand up to rub his chin, as if in deep thought. Then, he said, “Help me kill those Cyclops in New Jersey as much as you can, and I’ll teach you some more.”

“Keuk…”

“Why you…”

“Are you gonna do it?” Ji-Cheok asked.

Both puppets were wearing helmets, so he could not see their expressions, but he had a feeling it was not a pretty one.

“Fine.”

“I will support you as much as I can.”

“So what’s the additional information?”

“You have to tell me the truth. The contract says I can’t interfere with you, but it doesn’t say anything about attacking you directly.”

“Are you trying to find a loophole in our contract? Whatever, I will tell you this. Why did I want to be famous?” Ji-Cheok said.

“Do you need fame to become a God…?”

“I think it’s not just any fame. That means…”

Hopper seemed to be pondering something.

Ji-Cheok did not know if Hopper was going to realize it was about reverence or faith, and even if he did realize it, it was none of Ji-Cheok’s problem.

‘I’m sure he’ll figure it out on his own.’

“The operation will begin exactly six hours and thirty-six minutes from now,” Ji-Cheok said.

“I know. I also know that Adam Bronze is on the move.”

“Okay. I will coordinate the attack on the Cyclops in New Jersey.”

“Hopper Nelson. I do not know how you are going to cooperate with me, but if you break our agreement, I will not let you off the hook. Just know that the information I gave you might seem useless now, but it is definitely valuable. Got it?” Ji-Cheok said.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Why don’t you stop wasting your time, though? The world will end anyway, no matter what you do.”

“I don’t know about that. I think we need to see how this pans out,” Ji-Cheok said.

He waved at Hopper’s puppets and leaped through space. He had a lot of work to do in the next few hours.

? ? ?

?I have been waiting for you, Master.?

“Did you finish what you had to do?”

?Of course, Master. How about you??

“I finished the job well enough.”

They were back on the rooftop of the building where they parted ways. Cheok-Liang was waiting for him, after finishing his work.

?Here is the report: Golden Horizon is ruled by a supreme authority called the Council of Six. It is where the six factions were originally united, a sort of coalition. There are dozens of smaller factions within each faction. You can think of it as a pyramid-like structure.?

“So one boss faction is in charge of dozens of smaller factions, and in turn, each boss faction is one of the pillars of the Council of Six. That’s how it works, right?”

?Yes, Master. Each member of the Council of Six has authority equal to the others, and the factions are similarly powerful. Also, it is an all-American group.?

“Do other foreign countries have organizations like this?”

?There are several organizations similar to Golden Horizon in Europe. According to Golden Horizon’s database, the [Lake of Dawn], [Sephiroth Zohar], and [Mount Kunlun] are currently the largest organizations.?

‘Where the hell are these organizations from? I’m pretty sure [Mount Kunlun] is Chinese. I guess it’s a big world and there are a lot of problematic organizations I do not know about.’

“At least I got Hopper Nelson on my side.”

When he told Cheok-Liang about the Hopper deal, he seemed impressed.

?What an impressive skill for manipulating others, Master! Congratulations!?

“It was nothing. Well then, we have got about six hours to go, so shall we get started?”

?Yes, Master. Everything is ready to go. Shall we move??

“Alright, let’s go.”

Cheok-Liang returned to his neck and curled around it like a fur collar, and they immediately leaped through space. They arrived at a large warehouse near the port of Incheon.

There were tons of tungsten, Magic Stones, and a number of metals with magical powers.

‘Just as expected, Ji-Han prepared everything in a short amount of time. The Arcane Circle I asked him to prepare in advance is also on the ground!’

“Getting busy, Ji-Cheok?”

?As he watched the things that Ji-Han had prepared in admiration, he heard a surprising voice.

‘This is the problem with teleporting. It’s hard to know who will be there when you arrive.’

He looked over to where the voice came from, and there was Jung Bi-Ga, in her usual suit, chewing on her usual candy.

“Do you want some? Your brain needs sugar to function,” Bi-Ga said.

“No, thank you. Not right now. What can I do for you? I’m surprised you came all the way out here.”

Bi-Ga rarely left her lab. Even when she tried to lure out Mu-Cheok to be her test subject, Ji-Cheok thought it was odd.

“I heard you were up to something fun. I heard you were trying to take down the Cyclops.”

“I guess that rumor has already reached you.”

“Of course. When someone is preparing this many resources this fast, I’m bound to know. So tell me, why did you ask for all this stuff? Wait, wait. Scratch that. What are you going to make with all this?”

“It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?”

He was going to build a weapon to destroy the stronghold of the one-eyed giants.

“Hm… I think you misunderstood me. I’ll ask again. What kind of weapon are you trying to make? What kind of power does it need to have to damage the Cyclops?”

“That's a company secret.”

‘Sorry, I can’t just tell you because you asked me. You know what they say, “if you’re good at something, never do it for free.”’