Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 66

The Presidential Suite was no ordinary hotel room. It had a luxury bar in the living room. Antique-style tables and chairs were neatly arranged and the living room had a large glass window overlooking the entire city. There was also a separate meeting room, which was decorated with various books and even had a dining area with full kitchen appliances. There were also many bedrooms! The large marble bathtub and the private sauna booth inside were just a cherry on top of this luxurious suite. As Ji-Cheok took his shoes off to enter, his younger brother copied what Ji-Cheok was doing and went inside.

Just as Mu-Cheok stepped onto the suite, he was surprised.

“Hyung, this is ondol.”

Seeing Mu-Cheok getting excited about ondol made Ji-Cheok realize that his younger brother was indeed Korean. While his features looked somewhat foreign, his interests could not be more Korean. Of course, the guy who built the hotel was also definitely Korean. No foreigner would ever consider putting ondol into a seven-star hotel.

‘What kind of hotel has a private sauna booth? Is it there just for you to not feel like you are wasting ten million won per night?’

“Woah, I’ve never imagined myself in one of these suites.”

“Don’t be so emotional. You might come here again in the future.”

“But still, I would never spend this kind of money on a hotel room. Who could afford ten million won per night?”

Ji-Cheok had always felt that the thought process of the rich was fundamentally different from the commoners’.

When Ji-Cheok was young, he watched a soap opera where a chaebol came down on a helicopter at dawn and gave flowers to the main character. Back in the day, he thought that was a very romantic gesture, but now all Ji-Cheok could think about was the effort that was put in to make that happen. Questions like ‘how much did the helicopter pilot get paid for flying in the middle of the night?’ came to Ji-Cheok’s adult mind. The chaebol was making all these romantic gestures, but Ji-Cheok could see in the pilot’s eyes that he just wanted the chaebol to abide by the safety rules. Ji-Cheok was worried about what might happen to the pilot if the chaebol fell off the helicopter.

The moment people noticed the sorrow of a helicopter pilot rather than the main character’s bouquet, it was proof that they’d grown up.

In any case, there were only Ji-Cheok and Mu-Cheok in this room. They had split up with their teammates at the VIP lounge on the top floor earlier.

“There are only three presidential suites in this hotel, and I rented them all. Seong Kwang and I will share a room, Ji-Byeok and Ha-Na will share a room, and the last room is for the brothers, Mu-Cheok and Ji-Cheok.”

“Take a good rest today, and let’s gather tomorrow morning to have a meeting about the dungeon.”

This was what Ji-Han had told the team—before spending thirty million won in one shot. That certainly did not help Ji-Cheok recover his sense of reality.

After that, the hotel staff had guided the team to their respective rooms.

?Master, this place is very luxurious. It seems that Ji-Han wants to treat you well. I like that about him.?

There was nothing more honest than money. Ji-Cheok thought he was getting these kinds of treatments because Ji-Han saw the potential in Ji-Cheok’s abilities.

“We gotta wash up first,” Ji-Cheok said.

“Do you want to go first?” Mu-Cheok asked.

“No… Instead of taking a shower, I think I’m going to use that bath. Look how big that is, I could swim in there.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right. It would be better to soak in that bath. I heard from the staff earlier that if you leave your clothes and equipment in front of the door, they will clean it and bring them to us in the morning.”

“Wow, no wonder they are expensive. Alright, let’s fill up the bath.”

“Okay.”

They took off their gear and clothes and took a light shower first. Then, they went into the bathtub. As they got into the hot water, their exhaustion seemed to fly away.

“Wow~ That just hit the right spot~”

?I don’t understand, Master. What do you mean by ‘hitting the right spot’??

It was cute to see Cheok-Liang floating in the bath. Unfortunately, since Cheok-Liang was a spirit animal, hot water didn’t seem to be doing much for him.

‘Koreans say that when something good happens to us. Don’t worry about it.”

?Understood, Master.?

After putting his clothes and gear outside the door, Mu-Cheok entered the bath and stared at Ji-Cheok.

“Hyung, don’t say that kind of phrase in front of your fans.”

“Why not? You have to say it when in the bath, after a long day of work. We didn’t have any bathtubs at our house so I used to do it in the public baths.”

“Maybe your older fans might be okay with it because they are crazy about you. But for newcomers, they might find you a little old-school.”

“Hm… You think so?”

“I mean… well, never mind. People tolerate anything if you are handsome. So maybe clean up and put some product on your hair before you do it live.”

Ji-Cheok remembered the times when he was working as a Hunter Assistant. Saying ‘ah~ that hit the spot~’ at the public bath after work with the other Assistants was the rule of thumb.

“By the way, hyung.”

“What?”

“Things have changed, haven’t they, hyung?”

“Yeah, things really changed.”

Being Awakened was often compared to winning the lottery. Namely, just as there was a first place and fifth place for lottery winners, there were also lucky Awakened and unlucky ones. If a person awakened, but their abilities were nothing to write home about, the changes in their lives would be minimal. If anything, their lives could become worse, since they would be forced to fight anyway and they could lose their lives in battle.

“I wish our parents were alive to see this… They would’ve loved it here…” Ji-Cheok said without realizing it.

“Yeah, you are right.”

Mu-Cheok answered in a very weak voice. His memories and nostalgia about the past had started to surface.

Ji-Cheok wondered why people didn’t appreciate what they had until it was gone.

‘Let’s stop thinking about that.’

The present was more important for Ji-Cheok. Maybe that was why he had dreamt about his grandfather, right before he became an Awakened.

This was not Ji-Cheok’s first battle with his brother, but it was the first one for which they had practiced together beforehand. It was more difficult than he had thought. Ji-Cheok was well aware that he could’ve died from this raid.

“Mu-Cheok, do you ever think about quitting? We really don’t know when we are gonna die. Worst case scenario, we could both die fighting these monsters.”

No answer came. Ji-Cheok turned toward Mu-Cheok and saw that he was fast asleep.

‘I understand, you are very tired.’

“Dude… You should sleep in your bed. You can catch a cold here,” Ji-Cheok sighed.

?You are correct, Master. Master’s younger brother lacks vigilance as a warrior. I think you should educate him later.?

“Enough about him. What should we do now…”

With Mu-Cheok sleeping beside him, Ji-Cheok stared blankly at the night view from the window, but still, he couldn't find any answers.

* * *

“The world is about to end!”

‘What? Really?’

“We need to run— never mind, it’s too late!”

Mu-Cheok looked worried as Ji-Cheok looked up at the sky. The two brothers were standing on the sidewalk, watching a huge comet fall from the sky. When it hit the ground, the comet exploded, generating a massive mushroom cloud. Surprisingly, Ji-Cheok wasn’t hurt.

Ji-Cheok saw a message coming out of the giant cloud.

[You have received the title [Deathless conqueror of the special dungeon].]

Just then, Ji-Cheok woke up.

He blinked a few times, and his blurred vision cleared up. He saw the beautiful ceiling of the VIP room he had fallen asleep in yesterday, and also the message that was, in fact, in front of him.

Yawn~

As Ji-Cheok stretched out, he remembered the dream that he had just had.

‘Dreaming of a falling comet… Must be a lucky dream. But what is this message in front of me?’

[First no-death conqueror of the special dungeon]

[Class: Legendary

After a special dungeon is formed, this is a title given to those who cleared the dungeon for the first time without any casualties.

Dungeon rewards have been upgraded.]

This title sounded pretty great, but Ji-Cheok had no clue why it had popped up right now. He also didn’t know what the message meant by ‘upgraded dungeon rewards’.

While he was pondering the message, he heard the news on the TV.

‘“The team led by Jung Ji-Han, who is known as the youngest son of the Jungha Group, cleared a special dungeon without any casualties, which is a world first. But the information about the dungeon is still unpublished. This—”

It was the anchor’s voice Ji-Cheok often heard on TV. He switched the channel and found yet another discussion about Ji-Han, with a different anchor.

?Even the United States took three hours more to clear a special dungeon, and they had two casualties to boot. This means that the level limit is a problem. Also, did you know that these dungeons have some other ‘conditions’? These ‘conditions’ make the dungeon so much more difficult. It’s a tactical disadvantage because only a limited number of Hunters below the level limit can enter.?

?So what do you think we should do??

?I think we should focus our resources on creating a special team for special dungeons, just like governments creating special forces. Relying on private companies is not enough to safely clear these dungeons.?

?I disagree. What happens if the team that we create just immigrates to another country? Who is going to help us then??

The three panels were discussing the special dungeon. Jumping from the comet dream and the weird title he had just received to people talking about his experience on TV didn’t exactly help Ji-Cheok clear up his confusion.

?Master, did you wake up??

‘Good morning, Cheok-Liang. How was your sleep?’

Since Ji-Cheok and Cheok-Liang were connected spiritually, Ji-Cheok greeted Cheok-Liang with his thoughts.

?You know that I don’t need to sleep, Master. I was collecting information while you were sleeping.?

‘Collecting information?’

?Yes, Master. There was a great deal of interest for Master, Ji-Han, and other teammates. In the beginning it was just in Korea, but now it has become international. If you uploaded the video, there would have been a bigger reaction. That’s too bad…?

‘The recording is good.’

?So why didn’t you upload it??

‘I still have to edit the video. Unless it’s a live stream, it’s better to edit and upload the highlights to earn more Likes.’

?Ah! I see!?

‘Besides, since the inside of the dungeon wasn’t streamed live anyway, I wanted to talk to my teammates before posting this, I can’t just do it without their permission. Not to mention, when I upload the video, information about the dungeon is going to be revealed as well, so I have to talk to them about it.’

?In any case, you still received a lot of Likes, Master.?

‘Oh, how much?’

?Come see for yourself.?

A message screen appeared in front of Ji-Cheok.

[Total number of Likes: 123,478.]

‘123,000 Likes? Did I count this right? I’m sure I’ve used most of the Likes from before. I can’t believe I’ve already gathered this many again.’

“This is amazing!” Ji-Cheok said.

?You should also check out your rewards, Master.?

“You’re right.”

Ji-Cheok recalled the reward messages from yesterday.

[You will receive [Elective Unique Skillbook] because [He_who_denies_death] was caught cheating.]

[You have received the 1st place reward [Random Unique Skillbook]!]

[You have received the 1st place reward [Random Unique Skillbook]!]

[You have received the 1st place reward [Random Unique Item Box]!]

There were a total of four rewards. But what caught Ji-Cheok’s eyes was the [Elective Unique Skillbook.] This was a very rare item.

?This one is great, Master. According to the information I’ve gathered, there are only twenty-four publicly known cases of Hunters who obtained an [Elective Unique Skillbook]. Even if we include an estimated number of people who obtained one in secret, there are still no more than fifty in the entire world.?

This [Elective Unique Skillbook] was an item that allowed Ji-Cheok to obtain any unique skill that he wanted, which made it practically priceless. Ji-Cheok could even get a skill worth one million Likes!

1. Ondol is underfloor heating that uses direct heat transfer from wood smoke.

2. In the raws, Ji-Cheok says '????~' (this is so cool~) and Cheok-Liang is confused as to why Ji-Cheok would say something is cool when they are in a hot bath.