Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 76

“Then…Activate Soul Telekinesis.”

Zing!

Ji-Cheok felt his head getting hot. Then, a sensation that he had never experienced before flooded his brain.

‘What is this feeling? Is this the telekinetic sense?’

A mysterious sixth sense was allowing Ji-Cheok to feel his surroundings—almost like a bat discerning the things around it using ultrasound.

“Hoit!”

Ji-Cheok used the skill just like Dooly.

Woong~

A piece of the rock golem rose into the sky as Ji-Cheok focused his mind.

Bi-beep. Bi-beep.?

With a strange sound, something resembling white gelatin appeared on the surface of the rock. The gelatin wrapped around the rock and turned it into a mace.

Ectoplasm, the substance created by Soul Telekinesis, was an all-purpose substance that could become hard or flexible, however the user desired. If Ji-Cheok released the skill, the substance would scatter and disappear.

“I’m going to have to think about this a little more. Without any training, this skill is hard to use.”

After he tried both of the new skills, he realized that while the toys were easy to use, Soul Telekinesis was much more of a challenge. It really was dangerous to make guesses as to how a skill worked just by reading the description of the skill.

?Yes, Master. This skill definitely needs some research. I will collect the relevant information.?

“Thank you.”

?You are very welcome, Master.?

“I mean, off the top of my head, I’ve thought of something that might be useful.”

?What kind of plan do you have??

“I don’t think I can call it a plan. Maybe I could use the Soul Telekinesis while I’m mov—”

?Master! Watch out!?

Cheok-Liang, who was on the nape of Ji-Cheok’s neck, suddenly screamed and jumped off, enlarging his body. An axe flew in and collided with Cheok-Liang.

Thud!!

The axe was lodged in Cheok-Liang’s body. He was bleeding, but he endured the pain and didn’t even scream.

‘NOOO! MY FENNEC! MY PET BABY!’

?Master, I think you are mistaken… I’m not a real fennec…?

“Silph’s Blessing! Silph’s Recovery!”

He instantly used his healing and buff on Cheok-Liang.

While he was treating Cheok-Liang, he turned toward where the axe had come from. He saw two people walking toward him from far away in the wilderness. One was holding a hatchet that looked like the one that had injured Cheok-Liang and wore a piece of headgear that looked like a motorcycle helmet. He was also wearing the battle suit that Hunters typically wore. Behind him stood someone also in a Hunter battle suit who was holding a staff.

“Cheok-Liang, how is your wound?”

.

?It still hurts, but it is mostly healed. Since I am a summoned beast, the wound will soon disappear, thanks to your healing, Master.?

‘I’m glad. By the way… those are what I think they are, right?’

?Yes, Master. They are villains.?

[The connection to GodTube is now cut off.]

[GodTube broadcasting is not possible.]

Communication to the outside was abruptly cut off. Now, Ji-Cheok was certain of what was going on.

‘It seems like the stream was cut off by those people using a skill or something like that.’

Ji-Cheok could tell just by feeling the eerie aura surrounding them. Their reason was obvious: they were here to kill him.

Murder was quite common in this crazy world. However, apart from exceptional cases, murder in the city in broad daylight was not something ordinary. Usually, murders took place in these dungeons, because there was usually next to no evidence left. Ji-Cheok wondered how these people crawled into this dungeon. He could only think of three ways they could have entered. Since dungeon access was a very sensitive issue, entrances were guarded by government employees. Also, many dungeons closed after Hunters entered them. This dungeon was just like that: it was completely cut off from the outside world. It was one of the reasons why Ji-Cheok chose this place. That meant these villains had already sneaked in before Ji-Cheok got in and the dungeon closed. The real question now was…

Had they bought off the government employees?

Or had they sneaked in, avoiding their eyes?

Or, worst case scenario, had they killed those employees to come in?

The third scenario rarely happened in Korea, though Ji-Cheok had heard that it was not uncommon in foreign countries. It was very hard to get away with it in Korea. It was almost impossible to kill government employees or start a riot on this cramped Korean land and then try to flee the country. If something like that happened, the criminal’s face would be on every main page of all news websites and social media within an hour, and the entire country did anything they could to find the criminal.

However, just because there were fewer cases than in other countries, it did not mean that there were none at all.

‘When I retrieved Hunter’s corpses, there were corpses that had wounds that weren’t from monsters.’

Anyone would be suspicious if a corpse had the Alchemist Guild’s new noose trap around its neck. When Ji-Cheok was young, he had tried to report it and even talk to his superiors, but no action had ever been taken. Their excuse was that the dungeons were a lawless area and there was no way to report anything if there weren’t any video evidence. This was the miraculous logic created by the holy trinity of Military, Energy, and Media companies. And a piece of that miraculous logic was currently walking straight toward Ji-Cheok.

‘Who sent them?’

Ji-Cheok doubted that it was some random GodTuber who was jealous of his rising fame.

?This is my fault, Master.?

‘No, you couldn’t have predicted this. I’m just surprised by how calm I am right now. I think it might be thanks to the [Steady Heart].’

?Are you going to kill them, Master??

‘Well, I don’t want to. But in order for me to live, I might have to. Right now, I don’t have enough time and patience to worry about the lives of those who came to kill me.’

?I like the way you think, Master.?

‘Do you? I’m just trying to live, day by day. So, I’m going to attack with full power from the start.’

?Yes, Master.?

Ji-Cheok injected mana into his Mono Bike. As the bike engine warmed up, it made a pleasant humming sound.

* * *

Grant Meyer walked forward with an axe.

‘Tsk. I told you. Everybody calls him the super rookie, but he’s not worth both of us coming here.’

‘That’s why it’s so good. The pay is good, and the job is easy. Isn’t that the best combination?’

‘I like to have fun while doing my job.’

‘The Asian super-rich are no different from ours. They have more money than bullets, so they pay people like us to do their dirty work.’

The two villains spoke inaudibly using the skill [Mind Sync], which allowed the users to exchange thoughts directly. Even though they were considered human butchers who would do anything for money, the two were surprisingly hardworking and had sincere personalities. Grant woke up at the same time every day to do yoga and work out, had a vegetarian breakfast, ate sushi for lunch, and spent dinnertime meditating with a guru from India. This American was really deeply immersed in Asian culture. That was why he got many requests from the Asian super-rich, and subsequently slaughtered many Asian Hunters.

He had been working with his teammate, Reina Hughey, for the past couple of years. She was Grant’s partner and also loved Hollywood-esque Asian cultures such as morning yoga, vegetarianism, and sushi for lunch. The only difference between Reina and Grant was that Reina loved plowing some snow under the moonlight.

She could not help it. Unlike Grant, who was born in sunny California, she was from Harlem and lived around gangs and drug addicts. In this crazy world, drugs were becoming the kimchi of Harlem. In a world where health insurance was the privilege of the rich, drugs were a more effective pain reliever than Tylenol, and many people worshiped drugs as if they were their savior.

The reason Reina and Grant met was purely because they were Awakened, and they got along quite well as they slaughtered their way inside dungeons together. Grant had long been fascinated with Asian culture, and Reina always respected his taste. So, Reina decided to introduce the Triads to Grant, instead of the ninja and the samurai that Grant wanted. He almost got killed by a Green Dragon Crescent Blade when he asked the Triads to show him a samurai, but well, Asians were always sensitive about that stuff.

‘Be careful, Grant. According to my information, that motorcycle is as powerful as a summoned beast.’

‘I know. I heard the [Telekinetic Arrow] and [Shadow Stealer] are both very powerful.’

‘I never understood why rookie Hunters stream on GodTube. Why would they just freely give out their information like that?’

There was a simple reason why the two said it was easy to kill rookie Hunters. If Hunters streamed on GodTube, they were bound to expose their power and their skills. This held doubly true for Ji-Cheok, who had even revealed the name and description of the skills he had obtained from the Unique Random coupons. They could never understand the reason behind Ji-Cheok’s actions.

‘Alright. Let’s make that Korean samurai into a bowl of human porridge!’

Reina raised her staff and buffed Grant. The first two spells increased his strength and agility, while the third one increased the duration of the other two. As soon as the three buffs were applied, Grant’s thighs swelled up like fresh bread, and he started running toward Ji-Cheok like a purebred horse.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.?

[Axe Master Lv62]

‘You should’ve just stuck with the level-limited dungeon!’

‘You have some balls coming into an unpopular dungeon without any level limits! Are you that arrogant?’

Grant Meyer’s job was [Axe Master]. It was a high-ranking job among the warrior-type ones. Its strength bonus and attack bonus were considerable. In addition, [Axe Force] was a skill similar to Sword Qi—namely, it gave the axe an energy edge that glowed brightly. He was level 62, but in a one-on-one battle, he could kill Hunters at a much higher level.

When this terrifying Hunter came running like a tank, Ji-Cheok also accelerated toward him. Grant laughed at the sight.

‘A mere level 40 Hunter trying to attack me? You don’t know who you’re dealing with! I’m gonna cut off your arms and legs!’

The expected level of Ji-Cheok, who had cleared the level-limited dungeon the other day, was somewhere in the higher 30s or lower 40s. Grant estimated it to be close to 40, as Ji-Cheok had been number one in the contribution rankings. There were 20 levels between Grant and his opponent, maybe even more! No matter how strong a Hunter was, they could never make up for such a massive level disparity. And this guy was mindlessly hunting golems in an unpopular dungeon with no level limit?

‘It would’ve been less painful for you to die from snorting cocaine, like the guys from Reina’s hometown!’

In the crazy world of Harlem, there were many who chose to commit suicide in this way. But suicide by dungeon?

‘Is this the samurai spirit?’

Grant thought that maybe he was witnessing a Korean samurai’s chivalry.

Just as they were about to collide with each other, he swung his axe. At that exact moment—

Pow!

A small explosion occurred at the back of the bike. It accelerated suddenly, like a ballistic missile! Before the axe could reach Ji-Cheok, the bike had already slammed into Grant’s chest!

Crash!

“AAARGH!!!”

Of course, from a non-Awakened perspective, that reaction was entirely normal. However, in the Hunter world, it was natural for a level 62 veteran melee fighter to even survive a full-speed collision with a giant dump truck, let alone a motorcycle.

In the nonsensical Hunter world, something was happening that made sense. Now that?was truly nonsense.

Crack!

His ribs were broken instantly, and the sound of his muscles tearing echoed throughout his body. The sheer shock made it impossible for him to steady himself in the slightest.

Grant’s body was thrown into the sky and fell down to the ground.

Thud!

In one blow, he had lost consciousness.

1. Dooly is a famous Korean cartoon character. He is a dinosaur with magical powers. When using his magic, he points at the target and says his catchphrase, “hoit!”.

2. That would be coke. At night.

3. Legendary weapon wielded by Guan Yu in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

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