Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 89

Eventually, Ji-Cheok reached the Fake World Tree and found the other four corpses. All the upper halves had been bitten off, and only the lower body remained. After seeing the brutal image, he turned off the live stream camera for a moment and recovered the bodies. In the meantime, the chat had become the stage of a heated argument.

-I think I see why the other teams were all annihilated. There were just too many monsters.

-But I still cannot believe that Umji killed every monster.

-Umji Punch! Umji Punch! Umji Punch! Umji Punch! Umji Punch! Umji Punch! Umji Punch! Umji Punch! Umji Punch! Umji Punch! Umji Punch! Umji Punch! Umji Punch!

-Umji Cheok is on a rampage!

Ji-Cheok was glad that the chat was enjoying a good conversation while he was taking care of the corpses. It made him feel better. He wondered if the families of the deceased could say their goodbyes after he cleared the dungeon.

‘Cheok-Liang, where does a cat go after it dies?’

?Is it because of the picture of the yellow cat you saw earlier??

‘Yeah, I’m just worried about it. Will I know when I become a God?’

?Well… I believe it is better to think about this matter after becoming a God.?

‘I guess so.’

[You have received 1 Like!]

[You have received 1 Like!]

[You have received 1 Like!]

[You have received 1 Like!]

……

The Likes were coming in like crazy. Ji-Cheok thought that was because everyone now knew the dangers of this dungeon. There were just too many monsters. Hunters’ mana recovery was slow and the mana amount was limited. Especially when the Hunters were at a low level, they could not help but get tired even after using one or two skills. Stamina and mana increased as they leveled up. In the end, it seemed natural for Hunters to die after using all of their mana, just like a dead battery.

‘If you count the number of monsters the two teams caught before I came in, the number of monsters in this dungeon could be close to a thousand.’

?I am of the same opinion, Master.?

‘So, are there any monsters around me?’

?I could not detect any monsters, Master.?

‘That’s good to hear. Then, is that the only one left? Maybe it’s because I’ve gotten stronger, but I feel like there hasn’t been any big crisis today.’

?Some viewers might think this?is a crisis, Master.?

‘Still, I reached the boss room without using any fire-type skills as promised, didn’t I?’

Ji-Cheok retrieved the bodies and turned on his live stream again.

“Hello again. How were your bathroom breaks? Did you also get a cup of coffee? The live stream is about to start!”

-Hey, Umji cleaned himself up again!

-What are you planning to do that you’re getting more handsome by the minute? If you become any more handsome, I might just marry you!

“Oh, uh, thank you for your comments.”

It had been some time since the start of the live stream and the number of hate comments had decreased tremendously. Ji-Cheok wondered if the trolls realized that hate comments targeted at him did not affect him, and hate comments about the fandom would only bring them closer together.

‘Humans sure are capable of learning.’

?Master, wouldn’t it be because the viewers like your live stream??

‘Huh, you think so?’

?If the Hunter is not interesting, it is hard for a fandom to come together. GodTube is a ruthless place where if the streamer does not have good, solid content, they can never be successful.?

‘So basically, you are saying that a Hunter must be proficient in the basics first if they want to use fancy skills. Well, that’s a solid theory. It’s like when teachers tell students to study the classroom textbooks first before looking for outside sources.’

As he was standing in front of the Fake World Tree, he could see a cave below it formed by the tree roots.

“Well, just by looking at that, I believe that is where the boss monster resides, right?”

-Umji, are you really going to go in?

-What is he going to do if he doesn’t go in? He is not going to live there forever.

-Now that you’ve reached the boss room, please use your fire-type skills. You’ve already kept your promise. Please?

The chat was filled with comments worrying about him.

-Is Umji gonna die? Is Umji gonna die? Is Umji gonna die? Is Umji gonna die? Is Umji gonna die? Is Umji gonna die? Is Umji gonna die? Is Umji gonna die? Is Umji gonna die? Is Umji gonna die? Is Umji gonna die? Is Umji gonna die? Is Umji gonna die?

‘I thought the trolls were all eradicated, but it seems like some survived. Look at that. They are spamming it so that I won’t miss it.’

Some fans commented that he should delete these trolls' comments, and some others spammed positive comments for Ji-Cheok to see. He guessed that the fans didn’t want their Hunter to see these hate comments even for a second. But Ji-Cheok had no problem—he was not the kind of person that would be shaken up by mere hate comments.

In any case, the boss monster of this dungeon hadn’t suddenly popped out of nowhere like the boss monster from the temple of [He_who_denies_death].

‘This boss monster seems polite. Maybe it believes in Confucianism.’

As he was thinking about how polite the boss monster was, a portal opened with a majestic sound. However, the color of the Portal was different than before. Originally it was supposed to be a black tar-like color, but this one was glowing red.

-It’s Normal Clear! That’s the Portal for Normal Clear!

-What’s Normal Clear?

‘I guess there are viewers who already recognized it and there are first-timers who have no idea what’s going on. I should explain this..’

“Everyone, it seems like I’ve defeated all the monsters in the dungeon! As those of you who watch Hunter streams know, depending on the dungeon, you may be allowed to exit as a Normal Clear if you kill all the monsters except for the boss monster.”

-WHAT??? Does that mean Umji can leave now?!

-Umji, you did it!! You can live!!!!!!!!!!!!

-乃乃乃乃乃 Congratulation on clearing the dungeon, Umji!!! 乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃

The fans were ecstatic that their Hunter got to leave the dungeon. The chat was filled with comments from relieved fans. Ji-Cheok knew exactly how they felt as he diligently watched Hunter streams, back in the day. Wasn’t that human nature? Even if the fans were not as hardcore to sign up to be official supporters, they still felt the same as the rest. They couldn’t describe how happy they were that the Hunter they cheered for was leaving the dungeon alive.

“Hm… It might be a waste to just leave now. I kind of want to clear the boss monster while I’m at it.”

The reddish color of the Normal Clear Portal did not mean that it was fully open to the outside world. When he put his hand on that Portal, it would return to its original color, and only then would it be truly connected to the outside world. That was the essence of Normal Clear. If he left the dungeon, he wouldn’t be able to come back to kill the boss monster until the dungeon was reset. Ji-Cheok assumed that the rule was in place in order to prevent Hunters from going out, gearing up, then coming back and killing the boss monster. To sum up, if Ji-Cheok didn’t touch the Portal and killed the final boss here, he would fully clear the dungeon.

-Wow, does that mean I can actually see Umji do a boss raid by himself for the first time?

?What the hell are you talking about? Umji has already done a solo raid before. Don’t you remember the twin-headed gnoll incident?

?I didn’t know… Sorry, I’m very new to this.

?Now you know.

-I mean, I know that Umji is strong, but can he kill a boss from the special dungeon? Isn’t that a little bit too much?

?It might be too dangerous…

-For Umji, anything is possible!

-Let’s just go back, Umji… You’ve already gained a lot, you don’t need more, right?

The viewers ranged from people who somewhat cared to people who truly believed in him. He also saw people who were just curious. Just then, a chat message about a fairly big donation popped up.

-[U_Play_Like_Sh1t] has donated 1,000,000 won.

[U_Play_Like_Sh1t]: Do it. I’ll give you 50 million won if you say yes, and another 50 million won if you clear it.

?Do you feel happy to project your disgusting life unto Umji?

?222333344444555555555

-Umji, don’t do it!! It’s not worth it!

-Umji, do it!! Let’s solo raid the boss of the special dungeon!

‘As soon as money got involved, the chat started to become really chaotic. But it’s still fun. It’s definitely refreshing to see a guy who wants me fucked up in the chat like this. Clicking on the username, it looks like this account was created not so long ago.

?Master, when a fan wants to write hateful comments on other fandoms, they tend to create an anonymous account just for that use.?

‘Huh, is that true?’

?Yes, Master. A fan represents their fandom, so if they do shameful acts, other fans might think that fandom is shameful altogether. This is why they create anonymous accounts so that other fandoms cannot trace them back to their own. They would delete the account after using it for a short amount of time.?

‘Before when I watched Hunter streams, I just thought they were cursing for no reason. I didn’t know there was a whole different philosophy behind it.’

?Yes, it is also said in the 13th Principle of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. A used spy must be dealt with before the enemy finds out. And when I say dealt with, in this context, I mean…?

‘...that the anonymous account must be destroyed!’

?That is exactly what I mean, Master. In that sense, [U_Play_Like_Sh1t] is going to delete their account and disappear. They will probably go back to their own fandom.?

Ji-Cheok understood what Cheok-Liang was talking about. He always had deep thoughts about everything. In short:

1. This person wasn’t always like this.

2. They had a separate main camp, which was their true fandom.

3. Their purpose in commenting on Ji-Cheok’s stream was to kill him, and immediately after he died, the account was going to be deleted.

‘Would this be a good summary? That’s amazing.’

?However, Sun Tzu also said something different. A wise general strives to take food from the enemy.] So, to usurp your enemy’s donations is to steal their military food supply. This means that…?

Cheok-Liang spread his tail like a fan.

?…as a wise general of the Umji fandom, my advice is to clean out the enemy’s war chest!?

‘Understood, Cheok-Liang. I’ll take their one hundred million won.’

“Oh, man! I was thinking of doing that anyway. But thank you, [U_Play_Like_Sh1t].”

[The boss monster, [A Branch of the Mutated World Tree] has appeared.]

A System message appeared, and the ground shook as if there was an earthquake. What happened before his eyes was an unbelievable sight.

“Whoah…”

?This is unexpected, Master.?

Ji-Cheok felt the same way. He could not believe that this dungeon was supposed to be cleared by a team of six Hunters that were under level 20. This was crazy. He knew that there was no dungeon that could not be cleared. It was like a formula that supported this world. However, this dungeon contained too many monsters and a ridiculous boss monster. He knew that the difficulty of this dungeon was Supreme, but he was starting to think that this dungeon was actually impossible to clear.

‘I understand that it’s impossible to clear if you don’t know the strategy in advance. It’s up to the Hunters to wring their wisdom and put the team together with the right roles. And even then, it would be almost impossible to clear.’

And it had to be even more difficult in the world of capitalism, where the holy trinity of Military, Energy, and Media companies did not share their dungeon information.

Craaaack.

The ground started to split, and what Ji-Cheok thought was a cave turned out to be in fact the mouth of the monster. Above it, the roots split to make room for its eyes. A hand made of its roots protruded from the ground. And with the help of its hands, the monster rose from the massive crack in the ground.

“Summon Mono Bike G!”

He jumped on his bike and drove off around the crumbling ground.

?Master! You are looking really cool right now. Master’s black hair is fluttering nicely!?

‘You think so? Do you think this would get me more Likes? I should, since I'm literally risking my life here.’

?You look excited, Master.?

‘It might sound crazy, but I am starting to enjoy myself. This reminds me of a game I played back when I was young. Though, well, that game gave me three lives, but right now I only have one!’

1. 故智將務食於敵 in Art of War, chapter II

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