Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 40

Two Shrooms collapsed as they were sliced in half. Ji-Cheok was surprised by how strong he was.

‘I hope it wasn’t too overpowering.’

Looking at the remaining mana, it seemed that he could still fight longer. He promised himself to try not to use the [Light Blade], in order to see if he could really be a basic attack meta.

“Did you just kill all three monsters by yourself?” Ji-Byeok asked while Ji-Cheok was lost in thoughts.

The astonishment of the party members began to quickly translate into Likes.

‘Wow, that’s good.’

“That sword moved so fluidly, how did you do that?” Seong Kwang asked.

“I learned a cultivation skill,” Ji-Cheok replied.

“I mean, still…There is no way… Isn’t cultivation less efficient than leveling up with points?”

Ji-Cheok knew that even if one used the same sword skills, there was a difference between using the skills on their own and amplifying them using cultivation.

“Hyung, next time, bring ten of them. I think we can kill them all,” Mu-Cheok said.

“Ten? Are you crazy? For that to happen, our party needs to double in size! I can only taunt up to six!” Ji-Byeok yelled.

Ji-Cheok realized that the reason why Ji-Byeok had missed her taunt on some Baby Shrooms in the last fight was the number limit of her skill.

“Five monsters… That’s just a drop in a bucket!” Mu-Cheok replied.

As the two argued, Ji-Han, who had his arm folded, started to open his mouth. Ji-Cheok knew that he was going to preach about the same safety precautions, so he interrupted Ji-Han with a declaration of his own.

“I’ll lure in the monsters!”

‘I’ll lure in just ten monsters, let’s see how many we can kill.’

* * *

Three hours had passed. The party was able to eliminate not only ten, but even fifteen monsters in one battle.

This was a truly fast hunting speed.

“What is this… The level-up speed… Is this even legal?” Ji-Byeok burst out laughing because it was so ridiculous.

“We are hunting five times as much as other Hunters…” Ha-Na replied.

Seong Kwang was propping himself up against a tree. “Only five times? Mr. Um Mu-Cheok’s hunting speed is so craz—barf!”.

Due to low mana, Seong Kwang had puked on the ground.

‘I should probably edit this out in my video. Hahaha…’

?Master, I think you’ve exhausted the healer.?

Ji-Cheok agreed with Cheok-Liang. Faster hunting speed meant it was harder on the healer. Ji-Cheok could lower the burden on the tank by using the [Blaze Walk] on the enemy, but there was nothing he could do to help the healer.

‘Wait, I think this will help the healer out a bit.’

Ji-Cheok pulled out a mana potion from his pocket. It was not the best product to fully recover mana, but it increased the speed of mana recovery.

‘Thank god for Scrooge.’

“Here, drink this.” Ji-Cheok offered.

As Seong Kwang drank the potion, he was very surprised.

“Aren’t these mana potions really expensive?” Seong Kwang asked.

“I made this by myself using my alchemy skill.” Ji-Cheok replied.

Ding!

[Zealot Seong Kwang is greatly impressed by your courtesy.]

[You have received 3 Likes!]

Ji-Cheok was still bothered by the title ‘Zealot’. Everyone had been marked as either Hunter, Awakened, or Distinguished Person. Only Seong Kwang had been marked as ‘Zealot’.

‘Are all priests like this?’

“I think we’ve cleared up this dungeon except for the boss, hyung,” Mu-Cheok said.

“There’s literally nothing left.” Ha-Na said after using her reconnaissance skill.

Ha-Na was blown away by the fact that no other monsters were present except for the boss monster.

“Now we just need to retrieve the loot.”

Ji-Cheok knew that the boss monster was not in the plan. The only thing left to do was to collect the monsters’ corpses.

“Let’s get out of here,” Ji-Han said.

He seemed to be relieved that this raid had ended safely.

* * *

The party went out of the dungeon and called the Hunter Assistants who had been waiting for them outside. They went back in with the Hunter Assistants, because it was difficult for Hunter Assistants to figure out where the hunt had taken place only with a map. At least it was safe, because all the monsters had been dealt with—except for the boss monster.

“My god, How did they manage to clear the infamous [Glowing Mushroom forest]?”

“And this quickly?”

Although the party did not finish off the boss, clearing everything else was still considered a great feat. Suddenly, Ji-Cheok saw a familiar face among the Hunter Assistants.

“Mr. Kim! Is that you?” Ji-Cheok asked.

“Hey, it’s Mr. Um! It’s so good to see you!” Mr. Kim replied.

Ji-Cheok knew Mr. Kim from his Hunter Assistant days. Mr. Kim hugged him, as he was really happy to see Ji-Cheok.

“Hey, I’m going to help you guys out,” Ji-Cheok said.

“No, no, no. Why are you helping, Mr. Um? You must be tired from all the hunting. You need to rest,” Mr. Kim replied.

“It’s okay, I can handle it.”

“Hey! Don’t take my work! Do you want me to lose my job?” Mr. Kim said angrily.

Ji-Cheok hadn’t known when he was young, but he knew now that Mr. Kim was just doing this to make him take a break. Ji-Cheok climbed into the transport truck with the heaviest load on his shoulder.

“Come on, let me guide you inside. It is better for you to have a guide in the dungeon,” Ji-Cheok said.

“You really don’t have to do this…” Mr. Kim said.

The embarrassed hunter assistants looked at each other and followed him up. It was normal for them to be confused—Ji-Cheok knew, first-hand, how badly Hunter Assistants were treated by Hunters.

“If we ride in the same truck, it will smell bad. Is that okay with you?” a young Hunter Assistant asked.

“I think I will smell worse from all this monster blood,” Ji-Cheok replied.

Ding!

[Twenty Hunter Assistants were greatly impressed by you.]

[You have received 41 Likes!]

‘Hm. That’s pretty generous.’

* * *

Fungus-type monsters contained magic stones in their roots, so it was important to cut them along the grain. Cutting against the grain would only damage the blade. It had been a while since Ji-Cheok dismantled a monster, so he was having a little bit of fun.

?Master, why are you so good at dissecting monsters? I am surprised.?

Ji-Cheok had learned anatomy basics in school. It had been an interesting topic for him, and he had found and studied materials that were not even in the textbook. Cheok-Liang wagged his tail softly as he thought Ji-Cheok was full of surprises.

After cleaning up the monster corpses for a few hours, Ji-Cheok let all the other party members go back to the base camp, except for Mu-Cheok. Normally, Hunters would clock out, but Ji-Cheok had a bad feeling that something might happen, so he decided to stay until all the work was finished. The raid was supposed to take a couple of days, but thanks to their absurd hunting speed, the raid was finished in only one day.

‘Was our hunting speed really that fast?’

Ji-Cheok didn’t know how long a normal raid should’ve lasted. Technically, this had been Ji-Cheok’s first raid, and when he had been a Hunter Assistant, he would go in after the raid was already finished, so he had no idea about the average duration of a raid.

Suddenly, a new message popped up.

Ding!

[The dungeon has started to change.]

‘What?’

[The dungeon entrance has been blocked.]

Ji-Cheok looked around to see what was going on, and just then, all of the Hunter Assistants started screaming.

“It can’t be….”

“It's a Dungeon Expansion!”

New Shrooms began to crawl out from the corpses and began to move around.

Kiieek!

The sky had turned crimson.

Rumble!

A sound rang out from afar.

“Everyone, get back onto the truck! And wake my brother up!” Ji-Cheok shouted.

As soon as Mu-Cheok woke up, he grabbed his firearm and got up on the roof of the truck. This time, he was holding a rifle. It looked like the rifle had been taken out from another dimension.

“Let’s run to the camp for now.”

Rumble!

The ground trembled, shockwaves spreading out as if a huge beast was waking up from its sleep. The Hunter Assistants hurriedly got on the truck.

“Get on the truck, Mr. Um!”

Ji-Cheok got up on the roof of the truck, where his brother was waiting for him. The newly born Shrooms squirmed and rushed toward the truck.

Bang!

Mu-Cheok shot a round of suppressive fire at the Shrooms, yet they did not budge and kept coming toward the truck.

Bang! Bang!

This time, Mu-Cheok’s shots pierced through the newborn Shrooms, which instantly collapsed. It seemed like only two shots were required for Shrooms that were not fully grown.

“Let’s go!” the driver shouted.

The truck rushed toward the camp. New Shrooms continued to grow from the dead corpses. The new Shrooms started to shed their old skins and ran toward the truck.

‘I’m glad Mu-Cheok stayed with me. This Dungeon Expansion would’ve been so much more difficult without him.’

Tap.

A person who wasn’t supposed to be there had appeared behind Ji-Cheok. It was Ji-Han.

“Do you have some kind of teleportation skill?” Ji-Cheok asked.

Ji-Han had appeared as if from another universe.

“I can’t believe it’s another Dungeon Expansion,” Ji-Han replied, ignoring Ji-Cheok’s question.

Ji-Cheok was disappointed that Ji-Han didn’t answer his question.

Kuuug.

The ground vibrated under the truck. It looked like the dungeon was growing into a bigger dungeon.

“We must strike while the dungeon is still growing,” Ji-Han said.

The two brothers were not happy about the announcement. The boss monster of this dungeon was considered strong compared to other low-level dungeons, which was why no Hunter had been able to fully clear this dungeon. To clear the dungeon while it was mid-Expansion was simply suicide. The two brothers couldn’t believe their own ears, particularly when this line had been delivered by a person who usually spoke so firmly about safety.

“You know that we could die right? Or worse, be crippled for the rest of our lives.” Mu-Cheok said.

There was a saying by Hunters—sometimes, dying was better than being crippled. Hunters would rather have their family receive the insurance money and continue on with their lives, maybe visit the grave once or twice a year. There was something more tragic than dying. Ji-Cheok had seen a documentary where a Hunter had become unable to move his body due to injuries. With only his face moving, the Hunter had continued to live his life like a zombie. He would smile at the screen and beg for donations for his family. In the end, once he had managed to secure funding for his family, he had killed himself with his final strength.

Hell was not a place of fiction, but something that could be found in everyday life. Sometimes it was worse being half-alive than fully dead. Ji-Cheok was sure that was what his brother was afraid of. Hunters earned money through raids and battles, but there was always a line they would not cross. Clearing this dungeon in this state involved a completely different level of risk than dealing with ten or fifteen monsters.

“The exit route is blocked anyway. When the Dungeon Expansion is complete, the monsters will be fully evolved. It is better to attack now, while they are still evolving. It is our only chance of survival.” Ji-Han said.

?I agree with him, Master. But how can he stay so cool in this situation? Unlike Master, this should be his first time encountering Dungeon Expansion.?

Ji-Cheok agreed with Cheok-Liang—Ji-Han was surprisingly calm. It was like he was not experiencing it for the first time.

“My number one priority is the survival of my teammates, especially you, Mr. Um Ji-Cheok. No matter what happens, I will not let you die,” Ji-Han said.

“...”

Ji-Cheok felt his determination. Although Ji-Cheok had never understood what Ji-Han was thinking, the latter had always been clear about his top priority. In this case, it was Ji-Cheok’s survival. Ji-Han had never spared any money and time when it came to Ji-Cheok’s survival. He was the kind of madman that would go to a hospital at night and forcibly inject untested serum into a dying patient.

“It may be possible that I saved your life before in my previous life. Hahaha…” Ji-Cheok laughed.

“Hyung,” Mu-Cheok said in a worried voice.

Ji-Cheok knew he must have looked like a crazy person, smiling in this situation.

“Alright, let’s do it. Since this is time-sensitive, let’s clear it before the monsters finish growing,” Ji-Cheok said.

The clock had already started to tick.