Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 97

“...”

Ji-Han’s word of choice was ‘deal’, not ‘offering’, which told Bi-Ga that Ji-Han knew the gist of her contract. Indeed, her contract with the God was not an ordinary God-to-human agreement. It was a deal between a human and a machine. It was crossing a bridge that no sane person would ever cross. She couldn’t believe that Ji-Han actually knew about it.

“Okay, so you received wisdom from a divine being, and you’re also fused with something… Is that what you’re telling me? And you have the ability that fits your name. I don’t know which psychic our grandpa paid to get our names, but what was he thinking naming his grandchildren like that?”

Bi-Ga now understood Ji-Han’s abilities.

“I’m not foolish enough to lie to you in your own laboratory,” Ji-Han said.

“Good for you, but then why are you giving me this?”

“I want two things.”

Now that Ji-Han’s hand was out in the open, he couldn’t stop. He was making a move in the hope that this life would be his last. He still didn’t know what lay beyond the metaphorical chess board, but even so, he was still risking it on this move. He had been a pawn when he started, but now, he was the queen.

“I want you to be kind to Ji-Cheok.”

“I am already very nice to him.”

“Now that I’m here, I don’t think I need to worry about that part.”

With this, Ji-Han could rule out Bi-Ga opening Ji-Cheok’s brain in this life.

‘No matter how hard I tried or how much stronger Ji-Cheok got, Bi-Ga always found a way to crack open his head to satisfy her curiosity.’

However, in this life, it seemed like Ji-Cheok had won Bi-Ga’s heart without even knowing it. Ji-Han didn’t know why Ji-Cheok was trying so hard to become a popular GodTuber, but out of all Ji-Cheoks to date, this 104th Ji-Cheok had the most ridiculous abilities.

Just then, a voice echoed from the monitor.

—Thank you for lending me your laboratory, Bi-Ga. It was great!

Ji-Cheok made a finger heart with both hands toward the camera. Next to him, the fennec followed his master and made a heart with his tail. Bi-Ga glanced at the screen and burst out laughing.

“He is so cute. Where did you find him?”

Ji-Cheok had essentially won the heart of a mad scientist. It seemed like Bi-Ga was melted by his charm, so dissecting him was pretty much off the table.

“Okay, I think I’m gonna like Ji-Cheok for a long time. So what’s your other request?”

‘Thank god he made Bi-Ga happy at a time like this.’

Ji-Cheok had basically tamed the shrew without knowing it.

“I need you to become the [King of Machines],” Ji-Han said.

Crunch.

Bi-Ga shattered the candy in her mouth.

“You know more than I thought.”

She seemed to be contemplating whether to kill him or not. She noticed that even though he was in the middle of the enemy’s camp, his expression had not changed in the slightest since the beginning.

Then, as if she had made a decision, she got a new candy from a drone. It was mint, her most hated flavor. Ji-Han was momentarily taken aback by her decision of eating the candy she disliked most at this exact moment—this had to mean something.

“Great, that sounds fun. Let’s make the deal. The end of the world is not far away.”

‘I didn’t know she knew that much. Well, there’s no way she couldn’t have known. Especially considering the number of research drones she sent in during the Dungeon Expansion.’

Ji-Han sighed in relief. Concluding this deal meant that a part of this life was going the way he had planned.

“Good stuff. Then, if we’re done talking, please go away, cousin.”

She ordered Ji-Han to be escorted out of the premises, which also meant that she was sparing his life. Without even saying goodbye, he left the lab.

After he left, Bi-Ga picked up the intercom. As Master Mechanic, she could easily communicate using drones or whatever else, but for some reason she didn't understand herself, she insisted on sticking with the old-fashioned method. The phone rang a couple of times.

—Hey, Bi-Ga. What’s up?

“Hey, I’m in trouble~”

—Trouble? What are you talking about?

“Young-Hee, what happened to the devil’s somatic cell you were studying?”

—Hm… I analyzed about half of it. Why?

Bi-Ga burst out laughing for a while.

“Wow, you managed something that no other demon biologists ever have.”

—Well, I only did half of it…

“Anyway, I’ll be there soon.”

Bi-Ga hung up the phone and left the room. Behind her, Ji-Cheok was still eagerly sending his thank-you message to her. She seemed to be in a good mood, so she left a command to the drone: ‘record this and edit it into a gif.’

Stanning a Hunter was like taking supplements. People could live without it, but it was better if they had it.

* * *

Just as Ji-Cheok was about to focus on the rest of the work after renting out Bi-Ga’s lab, Mu-Cheok crawled out on all fours.

“Oh my god,” Mu-Cheok sighed.

‘If he followed my steps of becoming a GodTuber, I’m sure he’s gonna get a lot of fans. The fans are gonna love watching him crawl like that.’

“Hey, walk properly,” Ji-Cheok said.

“I…I think I’m going to die, hyung. Do you think it’s easy to control your mana?”

It looked like Mu-Cheok had kept practicing his mana control until his brother came back.

‘I know it’s hard. I’ll give you one Like.’

“What are you doing, hyung?”

“There’s not enough material.”

“Material?”

“Yes. I can somehow make this branch grow by letting it take root, but there is not enough material.”

‘I’ve made this Arcane Elf Growth Accelerant just for you, but why can’t you take it? I guess my luck was bound to end sometime.’

[Let’s grow the World Tree!]

[Difficulty: ???

Are you the one who supplied nutrients to the [Very Small Branch of the World Tree]?

The [Very Small Branch of the World Tree] is very hungry!

Let’s make the branch full and allow it to take root!

Reward: Leaves of the World Tree

Additional Rewards: ???

*Elf’s Growth Accelerant (Fulfilled)

*Heart of the Lowest-level Demon. (Not Fulfilled)

*Tears of Fairy. (Not Fulfilled)

“I just got a quest.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow… Aren’t rewards really good when a quest appears outside of a dungeon?” Mu-Cheok asked.

“If I can complete this quest, that’ll be THE jackpot. We could literally have a World Tree growing in our house.”

“Seeing how excited you are, I assume that this World Tree is a very good thing, but what exactly are the benefits?”

“We will be able to get more branches like this one. One of these branches can be worth from a couple billion won all the way to tens of billions. Being able to recover mana faster anywhere is a priceless ability for any Hunter out there. Also, since the branch is from the World Tree, maybe it also does something bigger that we don’t know yet.”

“I agree. The World Tree is so famous that it often appears in folk myths, novels, and movies.”

The exact features of the World Tree varied depending on where it appeared, but people generally understood it as a giant sacred tree that supported the world.

“By the way… How am I supposed to get those ingredients?” Ji-Cheok said.

“Can’t you find them at the Likes Shop?”

?I have already searched, Master, but there was no demon heart or fairy tears.?

‘Even the Likes Shop is not perfect.’

“No, there aren’t any at the Likes Shop.”

“Then…how are you going to get it?”

“Hm… I’ll have to ask Jungjin first. Since it’s a large company, there might be a way for them to find the ingredients.”

“It would be nice if they knew how, but… Would Ji-Han do it for free?”

Mu-Cheok was still wary of Ji-Han. Cheok-Liang was also wary of him. They knew Ji-Han was really good to Ji-Cheok, but they didn’t know why.

“We can just cut some branches and give them to him. Tell him to do some gardening as a hobby,” Ji-Cheok said.

Mu-Cheok deeply thought about it and nodded.

“Okay. Let’s just leave it at that for now.”

Bzzzzz~

Both Ji-Cheok and Mu-Cheok’s phones vibrated at the same time. He checked his phone and there was a message.

Jung Ji-Han: I believe you all must have recovered by now. We have a meeting tomorrow, so please come to the meeting room by 1pm.

‘What good timing.’

“Is he the devil? How did he know that we were speaking of him?”

‘It’s fine. Let’s just get our stuff, hyung.”

Thus, the brothers prepared to go out.

* * *

“Hello!”

“Brother, it has been a while. How have you been?”

“It’s been a while! From the look on your faces, I guess everyone is well-rested.”

Everyone greeted each other as if they hadn’t seen each other for a long time.

‘What…? I arrived thirty minutes early, just to make sure, but why did they come here so quickly?’

“Hello, everyone! Wow, you guys are here so early?”

“Hello.”

Mu-Cheok nodded with a rather distant voice.

“Munch. Munch. I was actually training here.”

Ji-Byeok was chewing a piece of unidentified jerky again. The color of the jerky was strange, but it smelled delicious and stimulated Ji-Cheok’s appetite. Ha-Na gave Ji-Byeok a cold look. The fact that Ha-Na, with her weak stomach, was putting up with Ji-Byeok meant that they were making great strides in their relationship.

Even Seong Kwang was eating a piece of the jerky.

“Would you like some?” Seong Kwang said.

He handed a piece to Ji-Cheok.

‘Hm… It tastes like spicy chicken.’

“It’s made with the finest sun-dried chili powder,” Ji-Byeok said.

In Korea, sun-dried chili powder was gradually disappearing as the number of farms decreased and drones replaced human labor in agriculture, it became even more precious.

“How did you get it?”

“I have a special connection. If I go to the mill at five in the morning, they sell it to me.”

She looked around and whispered cautiously.

‘I see. Monster Jerky using chili powder from genuine sun-dried peppers. You can’t even find them in supermarkets these days. This is very precious.’

“By the way, have you all recovered your mana?”

After greeting each other, it was time to get to the point of this meeting.

“So, in today’s meeting, are we discussing where the next hunt is going to be?”

As the team was guessing why they were here, Seong Kwang spoke to Ji-Cheok.

“Brother Um Ji-Cheok, I watched the video you recently posted. I couldn’t watch the live stream because I was praying, but just watching the edited video made my heart flutter. How did you enter that level-limited dungeon?”

Everyone’s attention was on Ji-Cheok. He had to think of an answer.

“Well, my job is kinda special, and because of it, my level goes up rather slowly. But my skills and stats are almost the same as the rest of you, so you don’t need to worry about me being an inconvenience to the team,” Ji-Cheok said.

“You know that’s not why I was asking, Brother Ji-Cheok. There is no one in this team that doubts Brother’s ability,” Seong Kwang said.

“Speaking as the tank, Ji-Cheok is the best burst dealer around. Speaking as myself, he’s also a jerky maniac like me.”

‘Ah, camaraderie based on beef jerky.’

While they were talking, it was three seconds before 1 p.m….

…tick, tick, tick.

Creak—

“Hello, everyone.”

‘Wow, he entered the room exactly at 1 p.m. For him, I bet time is not gold, but adamantium.’

Ji-Han never entered the room early, nor was he ever late. His shirt was impeccably crisp, his three-piece suit too extravagant for the occasion, his winter coat of the highest quality, and he sported the brooch that he had gotten while clearing the dungeon together with the team. There were times when Ji-Cheok wondered if he was some kind of ‘phenomenon’ rather than a real person.

In any case, everyone was used to it by now. Ji-Han’s ‘I am always on time’ philosophy was almost a law of nature, like the ‘no unbreakable dungeon’ rule.

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