Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 260

-Wow… I can’t believe he’s doing that.

-I think he put the Mass Increase buff on that shield too.

-And with [Blaze Walk], that hamster ball is just a rolling ball of fire.

-Is that dungeon easy to clear?

?Uh…nope. That one normally takes a team of thirty Hunters and a month to clear.

-And he’s destroying dungeons with a hamster ball?

-Um Ji-Cheok is so strong!

-The moe anthropomorphism is just too great. At this point, he might actually become a hamster!

-He’s really serious about that hamster costume.

-We should register his costume as a cultural heritage.

-He is the living embodiment of moe anthropomorphism.

Even though the video of the dungeon destruction was live, more than sixty million people were watching it from all around the world, time zones be damned. Ji-Cheok’s Like count was increasing not just from the Like button clicked by the viewers, but also because the admiration of people around the world was being directly transmitted to him. Becoming a God allowed him to double his Likes, so he had been earning like crazy.

Ji-Cheok had now destroyed all the seven dungeons. Without turning off the livestream, he got back to the Arctic construction site and threw himself into the water.

-What are you doing? Why are you diving into the water?

- 何してるの?

-?Qué? ?Qué estás haciendo?

-No!! Stop! I have thalassophobia!

Ji-Cheok had started his livestream when he had started to take out the monsters, so there was no way for viewers to know what he had been doing in the deep sea. He now reached the base of the dimensional barrier that glowed in the depths.

-What is that?

-Is that the remains of Atlantis or something?

-What? Ji-Cheok’s making something.. It’s getting bigger!

-Is that… the Tower of Babel?

-It’s a dimensional barrier! That’s the dimensional barrier that Umji livestreamed the other day! I didn’t know it was that big…

?He did say “kilometers”… It’s really overwhelming…

?That’s amazing!

Then, while everyone was watching, Ji-Cheok went back to building the pillar. This was a good way to get Likes and save the world.

The pillar grew rapidly. Soon, the behemoth-like construction broke through the surface of the ocean to reveal itself to the people waiting on the ice shelf. Then, it just kept getting bigger and bigger, taller and broader than any structure ever built by humans.

The top of the pillar looked as if it pierced the sky. And then, when the giant pillar was finished growing…

“Hamtori-tori Beam!”

Ji-Cheok posed with his arms crossed, and above his head, Cheok-Liang posed together with him.

The entire pillar began to glow with geometric patterns, like the circuit boards of a machine.

Simultaneously, all those with even a hint of mana noticed the change.

Something was happening in the world.

Bi-Ga, leader of the Arctic construction site and now the Official Number One Apostle of Um Ji-Cheok, watched the sky beyond the monitor from the Central Command Center, a special building that coordinated, controlled, and buffed the entire site.

Phil Grant, who was drinking a potion to restore his mana, also looked up in surprise. Geralt, a Viking who had been swinging his axe at the monsters outside of the barrier, also stopped fighting and looked directly at the sky.

Bellatina, Arkhan James, Hoshoff, Kirill, Aung San, Nihalab, Volt, Kube, Milton, Serial, Lelia, Daron, Kobet, Harelsi, Hoyouna, Gondo, Vex, Halam, Itra, Aisha, Jessica, Mayles, Park Sang-Bae, Jurin…

Everyone at the Arctic construction site looked up at the sky. And people all over the world joined them.

This was the greatest thing that had ever happened. A great miracle, the likes of which no one had ever done before.

Zoom~

A huge beam of light shot out from the pillar, and a bright blue wave of light spread out with the pillar at the center, covering more and more of the atmosphere.

Just when the entire world was bathed in light, it disappeared.

-That was… something else.

-What was that? What light…

-It passed over my house too.

?Me too.

?You too? Me too!

-Me too.

-Uh, I got a message…

[An incomplete World Protection Dimensional Barrier has been completed. Since it is only half-completed, it is less effective.]

It was inevitable that the world would be turned upside down.

? ? ?

[The Incomplete World Protection Dimensional Barrier has been completed. Since it is only half-completed, it is less effective.]

[Due to the Incomplete World Protection Dimensional Barrier, dungeons four stars or higher will not spawn naturally.]

[A dimensional barrier of the same type as the Incomplete World Protection Dimensional Barrier has been detected. The dimensional barriers will combine to compensate for their incompleteness.]

[Current dimensional barrier expansion: 65%.]

“We did it!!!”

‘I actually did it!! This is amazing!’

Ji-Cheok was so happy that he started clapping and shouting.

?Master! I congratulate you on your great success!?

Cheok-Liang was also happy about the successful mission.

The dimensional barrier expansion was at sixty-five percent. First of all, the World Protection Dimensional Barrier he had just built was only one-fifth the size that he had originally estimated. As a result, the barrier should have only been at ten percent, but it was actually at sixty-five percent!

This meant that the Ultra-Small and Small Dimensional Barrier Generator sold like crazy. Since they were all linked, the expansion was up to sixty-five percent.

He had even checked the possibility of using this dimensional barrier generator plus the smaller ones to get up to one hundred percent, but that was not possible. The main pillars needed to be placed at both the North and the South Poles.

With that said, if Ji-Cheok managed to build one more at the South Pole, he could push the end of the Tutorial back even further. He was unable to postpone it indefinitely, but at least humanity would evolve enough to be able to survive after it was over.

Technology would be more advanced and people themselves would be more advanced than they were now. At the very least, they would be able to fight the monsters from that doomed future that Despair had shown him.

?The number of Likes is through the roof, Master.?

Cheok-Liang’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He glanced at the chat window of the livestream and witnessed how chaotic it was. There were so many comments on the chat window that he could not read anything properly. There were also many viewers who were donating just to make their comments more noticeable.

The number of viewers had exceeded one hundred million.

‘There’s actually one hundred million people watching my livestream? All these people tuned in to watch me destroy a dungeon inside a giant hamster ball?’

?How could they say no to that??

‘I guess you are right. I would watch the hell out of that too. Cheok-Liang, turn off the livestream.’

?Yes, Master.?

Cheok-Liang ended the livestream.

‘Alright, let’s organize our thoughts, shall we? So this just happened… What do you think will happen next, Cheok-Liang?’

?The Ascensionists are going to go all out, Master. They are going to hide amongst ordinary people and try to sabotage your plans. They are also going to rely on slander and incitement to decrease your followership, but that is not going to work because your popularity is very high.?

‘Slander and incitement you say… The media is also on the side of those with money, so that could actually happen. And they could get politicians to act on their behalf. Anyway, you think they will try to sabotage the construction in Antarctica, right?’

?That could be their plan on the surface, but they might also have plans on the down low. They are going to try and get rid of you either by assassination or by enticement, and they are going to use a different kind of force than before. Or their leader may come out and do it himself.?

‘But nothing of the sort happened in Spain…’

?It was only uneventful because you wiped them out with your orbital bombardment. The enemies are strong and they will try to negate your orbital bombardment or fight in a place where you can’t use that.?

‘You’re right. That is something I should watch out for. However, like the old Korean saying, you need to go to the tiger’s den to catch the tiger. I might have to think about ways to smash the traps altogether.’

?Of course, Master. If you have the power, you can smash the traps that the enemies had installed.?

‘Alright, let’s leave it at that. It took all my Likes to build this dimensional barrier pillar… Well, at least I got about two hundred million Likes back in no time.’

—Ji-Cheeok! You did it! I didn’t think you could do this…

The voice of Bi-Ga came straight to him. One of the apostle’s abilities was that they could speak to their Gods telepathically. It was an ability that required the expenditure of Points, not magic.

When Ji-Cheok became a God, he realized that the Points that normal Hunters had were the Karma they got for defeating monsters. They would accumulate this Karma, or the power of causality, and turn them into skills and items in the Hunter Store. If Ji-Cheok’s Likes Points were centered around awe, then Karma was the energy that made up the fatalistic world.

He changed his clothes and ‘walked’ toward the place Bi-Ga was at.

In one step, he crossed space and landed in front of her. She looked surprised, but then she smiled.

‘I didn’t know she could smile like that.’

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

“You did amazing! I didn’t think you could do it, even though you are a God…”

“Well, the important thing is that I did it.”

“Yes, I guess. I never thought you would be able to protect the world like this…”

Bi-Ga’s expression was a mixture of emotions.

“If we’ve made it this far, we should go ahead and do the rest as well, right?” Bi-Ga said.

“Of course.”

“Then, look at this.”

She snapped her fingers. An image appeared in the middle of her and Ji-Cheok. It was an image of Earth.

“The power of the dimensional barrier generators has already created a thin dimensional barrier across the planet. If my calculations are correct, it is currently 61% complete. If we build a second pillar at the South Pole, we can avoid the apocalypse. The problem is the time it takes to build it.”

It would take at least a few months just to move all the construction equipment and other resources from here.

“Also, the safety of the current dimensional barrier pillar.”

?Bi-Ga is right. This Arctic pillar must be defended at all times. If it is destroyed, the dimensional barrier will be thinned again.?

‘I know.’

“You do realize we are not done here, don’t you? We need to keep protecting the pillar here as well,” Bi-Ga said.

“I’ll leave that to the UN.”

Up to this point, Ji-Cheok and Bi-Ga, both civilians, had been doing all the work. Countries had been sending resources and manpower just to put their name on the operation. Naturally, Ji-Cheok thought that the defense of this place would be best placed in the hands of a body like the UN.

“Hm… Do you think he could do a good job of defending this place?” Bi-Ga asked.

“Well, they could at least buy some time for me. I can always come running.”

“Buying time… I will have to reinforce the defense here just in case. Ji-Cheok, how long do you think we’ve got until the apocalypse?”

?Using the Tutorial guide from earlier and my calculation skills, we currently have about two years until the end of the Tutorial.?

‘I can’t believe it’s gone from less than a year to two years…’

“We have about two years left,” Ji-Cheok replied.

“Two years, huh… I’m sure our enemies know that too. So it’s going to be much harder.”

Ji-Cheok nodded at her words.

“We’re going to work harder than them. I am going to try to sway public opinion, but if I have to, I am going to use money, and if I have to go that far, intimidation. Anything I have to do to defeat those enemies. Now is not the time to think about the high road.”

“That’s the spirit. I will see what I can do on my end. I will set up a fortress here for three months, and then we will move on to Antarctica.”

“Good luck.”

Ji-Cheok bowed lightly and used his Steps of Hermes toward his house.

He had managed to stall the end of the world for a bit, and now it was time to rest.

1. Moe (moh-eh) anthropomorphism is basically making a non-human thing into a human character, but with extra adorableness. Somewhat famous examples are the characters from Cells at Work, as well as more controversial ones like Hinomoto Oniko, Isis-chan etc.

2. ”What are you doing?” in Japanese

3. Same as above, but this was in English in the original Korean text, so we wrote it in Spanish.

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