Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 273

Dozens of protective Secret and Mystical Arts shattered around Duke Lake, who was dressed as a Druid. Finally, Ji-Han’s hand sank into the Duke’s heart.

Spitting up blood, Duke Lake glared at Ji-Han with bloodshot eyes. Then, he dropped his head and died. His body, along with his clothes, turned into particles of light and was sucked into Ji-Han’s hand.

More particles of light emanated from the entire stone chamber, and Ji-Han’s hand absorbed them all—it was the power of a God that was imbued in the room. The time-stopping power on the Water Dragon was released, and the dragon turned into ordinary water and splashed on the ground.

It was indeed an overwhelming sight!

Just then, powerful mana rose from the silver water tank in waves, making the surrounding atmosphere tremble!

[How dare you try to steal my Arcane energy!]

The water rose from the water tank, forming the shape of a woman.

She was beautiful. Supernaturally beautiful, even; capable of drawing out not just awe and admiration, but who knew how many other emotions in whoever saw her.

It was the Lady of the Lake: Merlin’s lover and the descendant of a long lineage of fairies.

The avatar of the Lady of the Lake had descended!

“So what if I am taking your power?” Ji-Han said, still expressionless.

Not the slightest hint of emotion could be seen on his face. He just stared at the woman, like a statue made of steel.

“Why should I not take away the power of a God who can’t even walk the Earth?”

Rumble.

[How dare you mock me!]

“I am just stating a fact. If you take that as a mockery, it shows how low your class is.”

Rage erupted from the avatar of the God.

Roar!

Ji-Han put his hand in his pocket.

“A follower of yours just died. But you do not even care about his death, only about this stone chamber.”

He pulled something out, something that looked like an old pocket watch.

“So why should I respect you?”

[Hahahaha! I see… I see. You are not mortal.]

“I am very much mortal.”

[Hm… I can feel the traces of time so strongly on you. There is no way you are just human.]

The enraged Lady of the Lake suddenly became intrigued. The fickleness of these Gods was something else indeed.

[But, even so, you must pay the price. No one can steal what belongs to me, Nimueh!”]

“Do it if you can.”

Ji-Han, holding the pocket watch, looked at the Lady of the Lake in silence, and a huge explosion occurred as two titanic forces collided.

That day, the lineage of the first Duke Lake ended in the explosion.

The Knights of the Round Table watched the explosion from afar.

? ? ?

Ji-Cheok’s home had been originally in Seoul, but he had since moved into a penthouse in a building right next to the World Tree in Paju.

The tree was still growing and thriving. The neighborhood was also booming—in addition to Korea’s fast-paced lifestyle, various skills and magic had allowed a series of fifty-story buildings to be completed in less than a year.

The area, which had quickly become the most expensive real estate area in Paju, was noisy because there were still construction projects here and there, but at the same time, it was full of life and vitality.

The penthouse had the entire rooftop to itself, so there was even a garden, and it was a strange feeling to stand there and look down on the city.

He had always imagined what it would be like to look at the view from a penthouse. He had always thought that it would feel like one of those cartoons where he would be sipping on an expensive glass of wine and say things like ‘look at all those peasants.’ However, he felt more of a sense of realization knowing that he had been working extremely hard to protect those people down there. That kind of feeling helped keep him motivated.

?Master, you seem a bit exhausted.?

“Yeah, I think I’m a little burnt out.”

Ji-Cheok had managed to get all the important things done for his plan.

Antarctica was definitely taken care of, and now all that was left was for Bi-Ga to set up the second dimensional barrier generator in Antarctica, and the job would be finished. They had gotten the governments to focus their resources on it, and they had sent over two hundred trillion won worth of resources.

‘In other words, I did my part…’

“Or am I not finished? What I’m feeling right now… It does not feel like exhaustion for some reason. It just feels like that temporary feeling of emptiness that comes after finishing a job.”

?No, Master. You are definitely exhausted.?

‘So you think I’m just burnt out? You know, it’s something that happens to a lot of those office workers.’

“Why do you think I’m burnt out?”

?I think you already know, Master.?

“Me? What do I know?”

?That the job is not actually finished yet.?

“Hm…”

‘Maybe. Maybe I have this feeling that there is still something left for me to do. I wonder if this is like a warning from the Divine Intuition. When you say it like that…’

“I definitely do think there is something left to do. It doesn’t feel right. It’s almost as if it was too easy…”

The dungeon had been cleared by just him and Reable. This meant that if the world had joined forces to destroy the dungeon, they could have also done the same. There would have been a lot more casualties, undoubtedly, but it was still possible. In fact, if the countries had focused their efforts, they could have solved the dungeon problem in the Philippines as well.

Of course, Ji-Cheok had a really hard time when he was there, but it just did not feel like the final step of saving the world.

‘So what should I do next?’

?Why not identify and deal with the sources of your anxiety, Master??

“But I don’t even know what the sources are.”

?There is one that is fairly easy to identify: underground societies.?

“Oh, right.”

Ji-Cheok felt his head light up at his advisor’s words. Now that he thought about it, the secret societies were the assholes who sacrificed innocent people for the sake of ascension. Of course, there were also good secret societies, but they could be categorized separately.

“What were the four largest secret societies, Cheok-Liang?”

?They are the Lake of Dawn, Sephiroth Zohar, Mount Kunlun, and Golden Horizon. The Golden Horizon stopped all ascension-related activities because of our agreement with them, but…?

“You’re saying we don’t know what the other three are up to, right?”

?Yes, Master.?

“Well, the closest one is Mount Kunlun. Thanks to the Steps of Hermes, the distance is not a problem, but…”

?Since you are headquartered here in Korea, it would not be a bad idea to visit Mount Kunlun in China first.?

“Okay. Let’s meet them and see what they are up to.”

Ji-Cheok did not know whether Mount Kunlun was good or evil.

“But how do I meet them? They’re a secret society, isn’t secrecy the whole point?”

?That is a simple matter, Master.?

“Really? Tell me.”

?You should do a livestream and have them come meet you.?

“Uh… Would that be okay?”

?Why not? They are spying on you anyway. If you do a livestream on them, they will definitely contact you. And if they do not…?

“Then what?”

?We can ask A/B to get their information and release it on air.?

‘Wow~ That’s why you are my advisor, Cheok-Liang.’

“That’s a weird idea. Crazy, even. Let’s do it.”

?Yes, Master.?

? ? ?

Ji-Cheok’s livestream was very popular. So much so that it was now the number one channel on GodTube—it even surpassed the original number one, ‘That Hunter’.

And for a good reason.

How could someone beat a madman who traveled around trying to save the planet by rolling in a hamster ball? Plus, his ability to teleport into space and use the orbital spear bombardment was something that no other Hunter could match. In addition, Ji-Cheok would also do the Zero Two Dance for the fans.

Ji-Cheok’s abilities were now considered the strongest in the world.

Also, his recently posted video of the destruction of the massive and allegedly six-star dungeon in Antarctica had shown the world what a truly mythical battle would look like. With this, viewers had concluded that there were no Hunters in existence more powerful than Um Ji-Cheok and his companion known as Jung Reable.

Right now, that powerful Ji-Cheok was live! It was enough to shock everyone.

“Hello everyone! Umji, Gumji!”

Ji-Cheok usually livestreamed in a weird hamster costume. This time, however, he was wearing something else.

It was a costume of a popular dog on GodTube!

-This… is our world's savior?

-So this is the Hunter who is going to save our world?

-Umji is a pro… He is sticking to his core values as a streamer.

-He has 100 million subscribers but still dances in a dog costume... He even wrote his name on his chest!

-I’ll give him a Like for that!

Viewers flocked to the livestream to marvel at the costume and give him Likes, all in support of Ji-Cheok. Ji-Cheok did not care how cheesy he looked in the costume. He just wanted to get more Likes.

Of course, he did not start the livestream with the intention of getting a pat on the back, but since he was going to livestream anyway, might as well get more Likes in the process.

“Today, I am going to continue the livestream in this outfit. It kind of looks like I’m doing cosplay. I am going to talk about what I have been busy with these days.”

-So this livestream is just going to be Umji giving us updates on his life.

-Umji! You should use Super Chat!

-[Ssun_Ju_Ran] has donated 1,000,000 won.

[Ssun_Ju_Ran]: Um Ji-Cheok~ It’s been a while since you told us about what is going on in your life. ^^

-OMG! It’s Ssun_Ju_Ran!

-I can’t believe she’s in the chat! Wait, if she is here, that means…

-[A/B] has donated 1,000,000 won.

[A/B]: Hey bro! You are livestreaming while letting others do the work??

-See? I told you.

-A/B is here too!!!

-[GH] has donated 1,000,000 won.

[GH]: Mr. Um. Powerful and strong morning. Your achievement is ample.

-Who is that guy? That’s some weird-ass translation.

-Holy shit. These guys are donating one million won a line!

-It’s giving me shivers down my spine! This is the reason why Umji is the strongest Hunter in the world!

The chat completely exploded. There were also a lot of viewers who sent donations to use the Super Chat.

Ji-Cheok just smiled at the camera.

“Thanks for the Super Chat, Ssun_Ju_Ran! Thanks to you too, A/B! And I’m assuming GH is Golden Horizon, right? Thanks for the compliments!”

-What’s Golden Horizon?

-Aren’t they the third-ranked Guild in the United States?

-Oh, I know them! They are an American Guild set up by rich people!

-The United States wants him, and the Japanese envy him! My veins are swelling with national pride! Waiter! Can we have one more round of national pride, please?

“If you have watched the videos on my channel, you know I have been busy this past month. Who knew building barrier generators at the North and the South Pole could be this crazy?”

Ji-Cheok began to tell the viewers about what had happened. He pulled up the appropriate videos, showing what had been happening in the Arctic and Antarctica. He was well into the conversation when he finally got to the point.

“So anyway, guys, do you know about this organization called Mount Kunlun? I hear it is a secret society set up by the Chinese. What do you think about them? Do you think they are like the villains who destroyed that city in Spain?”

-[A/B] has donated 1,000,000 won.

[A/B]: Are you out of your mind? How can you say something like that in public?

Ji-Cheok could hear A/B screaming at his screen, but he decided to ignore the Super Chat.

“So this is for all the viewers! If you have any contact information for Mount Kunlun or are connected to them, please contact me!”

That was the end of the livestream, which sent shockwaves through secret societies around the world.

Nowadays, it was said that GodTube was taking away the function of public media. For a while, there were news and articles saying that it was becoming a social problem, but now those articles were nowhere to be seen.

Politicians received luxury watches as bribes and nobody batted an eye, and even though their families were manipulating stock prices, the media had been silent for a while now.

There were GodTubers who tried to expose those shady politicians with provocative headlines, but even they were only doing that for their views. Those GodTubers were not even from legitimate news agencies, so they were not very popular.

‘I’m not trying to be a great journalist here, but I am kind of interested in this whole secret society thing, so let’s see how this plays out, shall we?’

-If they are such a powerful secret society, I’m sure they are going to come for you, Umji! Are you going to be okay?

-You’re right. If I were them, I would kill Umji too.

#LetsGo!