I Gave Up Being Stronger

—Can you take it off?

Wang Yu-Mi said over the phone.

“Take what off?” Cha Jin-Hyeok was confused.

‘Does she mean take the head off an enemy?’

“Do I need to kill someone?” he asked.

—No, no! Take your shirt off!

“But I’m only wearing a bathrobe right now.”

—Just let the bathrobe slip down and expose your upper body! I’m sorry for not being clear. Take your shirt off. If you are too uncomfortable with that, I can think of another way.

‘Ah, take my shirt off. But why would I be uncomfortable with exposing my upper body? Taking someone’s head off, that would be more uncomfortable.’

Jin-Hyeok found it hard to fully understand what Yu-Mi was trying to imply.

“There is nothing uncomfortable about it. But what’s the point of doing it right now?”

—We need to make a promotional video for the Haeundae Dungeon expedition. We have already made a slash with the joint livestream with Egan Paul. Now, we need to amplify it!

“How would that promote the expedition?” Jin-Hyeok still could not understand but went ahead with it. Following her advice had never failed him.

After ending the call, he tilted his head in confusion. “Do you think this will help increase my subscriber count?”

“I am sure it will.” Kang Eun-Woo enthusiastically agreed, gauging at Jin-Hyeok’s reaction. “Only if you are not particularly against exposure or feeling embarrassed.”

“Why would I feel embarrassed?” If it helped the livestream, he would do more than expose his upper body.

“Then please sit here.” Eun-Woo set Jin-Hyeok in the middle of the bed and adjusted the lighting. “I will just set the surrounding objects and the temperature of the lighting.”

Jin-Hyeok filmed Eun-Woo too.

‘The camera really loves him,’ Jin-Hyeok thought.

After acquiring Dual Jobs, Eun-Woo became even more handsome.

‘He is becoming the Eun-Woo I knew from before my regression.’

It was clear that he would become popular in no time.

‘I remember his videos of him concentrating on something were very popular back then.’

Jin-Hyeok still did not understand why those videos had been so popular. However, just because he did not understand them, it did not mean they weren’t popular. Also, Jin-Hyeok believed that his filming Eun-Woo would help with the livestream promotion.

He uploaded a short ten-second video titled ‘Hardworking Eun-Woo.’

Oblivious to this, Eun-Woo put his heart and soul into the preparation for filming Jin-Hyeok. “Chul-Soo, please get ready for meditation!”

“Right here?”

“Yes. Ah, wait a minute, I need to sprinkle this around.” Eun-Woo took out pro rose petals from his inventory and scattered them around Jin-Hyeok.

‘It looks like blood. I like it.’

Jin-Hyeok finished preparing for meditation, as Yu-Mi and Eun-Woo set up the room. He partially removed his bathrobe to expose his upper body.

‘I need to focus now.’

He immersed himself in meditation, recalling the movements of the knight wearing white jade armor he had seen in the video.

Eun-Woo captured the photos of Jin-Hyeok non-stop. ‘This is a good picture. This one is also good.’

Eun-Woo smiled brightly. No matter how he shot the photos, every one of them was amazing. He carefully selected the best photos and posted them on Enstagram.

(Picture)

12,230 Likes

official_chulsoo Meditating before the Haeundae Dungeon expedition. more

-Wow... he is insanely handsome.

-It was not just his face. His body is also godly.

-How is it fair that his face AND his body are both amazing? Look at those abs!

-Don’t worry guys. God is always fair. I bet his liver is ugly.

-I stopped breathing looking at this photo.

Eun-Woo felt very proud after uploading the photos. The explosive interest and enthusiasm from the viewers lifted his spirits.

‘Chul-Soo’s photos are art itself! Chul-Soo is art!’

Eun-Woo wanted to shout it out but kept it to himself, not wanting to disturb the meditation. He also took a brief video and uploaded it as Eltube Shorts.

Both the video of Jin-Hyeok meditating and the video of Eun-Woo making the preparations garnered explosive responses from the viewers.

-Look at the visual synergy of these two.

-Wow, their visuals are overpowered! They can totally just become celebrities.

-One has the look of an idol, and the other one has the look of an actor. What a combo.

The videos ranked first and second in the list of trending videos, making the promotion of Chul-Soo’s Haeundae Dungeon expedition incredibly successful.

As soon as Jin-Hyeok finished meditating, Eun-Woo felt a sudden fear and said, “I am so sorry. I posted without permission. But I couldn’t resist! These photos are amazing!”

“Well, the promotion was a success, so it’s okay,” Jin-Hyeok smirked.

It was common to end up naked during Dungeon clears. Exposure was so normal during Play that revealing the upper body was nothing. If such a small thing could promote his concept this much, it was all worth the effort.

‘But...’ Jin-Hyeok thought.

He thought he should be happy because the promotional videos worked, but seeing all these flattering comments made him feel strange. Many were praising Chul-Soo beyond reason.

Suddenly, he found himself scrolling through the Enstagram comments, checking the likes.

‘This... doesn’t feel bad at all! It must be because the promotion went so well. I’m sure that’s it.’

For the first time, Jin-Hyeok felt a strange emotion aside from the excitement of Playing.

‘...Am I really that handsome? Surely not.’

The thoughts emerging in his mind were something he never had before his regression.

? ? ?

Jin-Hyeok was quite inspired by Egan Paul.

‘Ah...’

All members of the Avengers Army were dressed in black. It was as if they had come to a funeral. They embarked on the expedition with solemnity, without a trace of laughter.

‘Egan started his content even before going into the Haeundae Dungeon!’

Jin-Hyeok seemed to lack such dramatic presentations.

He was in front of the graves of the four party members of the Avengers Army who had lost their lives in the Dungeon. However, these were not real graves. Usually, when someone went missing or died in a Dungeon, their body was rarely found. Since their remains could not be buried, other Players instead placed the deceased Players’ personal belongings in glass jars as a symbolic gesture.

Egan recited a tribute. “To not let the noble deaths of our comrades be in vain, we embark on this perilous journey today.”

Egan called out each of the deceased Players’ names and deeply bowed in front of their graves.

Jin-Hyeok suddenly became curious.

‘Is he doing this for the livestream, or is he genuinely mourning?’

If he was genuine, it would be slightly disappointing, but if it was for the livestream, Jin-Hyeok would feel somewhat relieved. After all, death in a Dungeon was all too common. If Players mourned and grieved for each death like this, it would be mentally exhausting. Nobody could become a top ranker that way.

‘But...’

With Broadcaster’s Insight, Jin-Hyeok could easily read what Egan was truly feeling, but for some reason, he did not want to do that today.

‘So strange...’

Jin-Hyeok felt emotions far different from before. If this were a time from before his regression, he would have questioned why they were doing such tedious things. In fact, he would not have even attended the funeral. Such actions did not bring back the dead, and they only mentally burdened the Players. Jin-Hyeok thought they only had a negative impact on clearing Dungeons. So, whenever such events were held, Jin-Hyeok was always annoyed.

‘But, I’m not annoyed right now.’

Suddenly, he saw a few people who he guessed were the families of the deceased. They were shedding tears. Having lost family members before his regression, he felt he could somewhat understand how they were feeling.

‘I don’t know what to think...’

His mind was in a very complicated state. It was too common for someone to die while Playing in a Dungeon, but for some reason, his heart was not at ease.

After bowing his head and observing a moment of silence in front of the portraits of the dead Players, Jin-Hyeok offered a chrysanthemum flower.[1]

“I do not know your faces or names, but I will not let your deaths be in vain,” Jin-Hyeok said. He then approached the crying families and said, “If possible, I will also try to recover your son’s body.”

‘I’m doing this because of my livestream. Really. It’s just for the show. I don’t usually do such unreasonable things.’

An old woman with white hair fell in front of Jin-Hyeok and cried bitterly. She asked him to try his best to get her grandson’s body while saying sorry for asking such a shameless request.

‘I also should be careful with elderly people like her.’

He never knew when someone could strike him. However, today was somehow different. Jin-Hyeok helped the old woman to her feet. “I will try my best.”

The old woman held his hand with her wrinkled hands and cried for a long time.

‘If she were an Assassin, she would have already tried to strike my neck several times. My enemies know that I have Absolute Barrier, so they might strike me when I’m most vulnerable. I need to be more careful. Really.’

? ? ?

The group stood in front of the Haeundae Dungeon. The Avengers Army lined up and recited their oath.

“We are one. We will not forget the death of a comrade.”

“We are one. We will trust each other and willingly entrust our backs to our comrades.”

“We are one. We will never betray our comrades and will prevent the Dungeon Break with a noble sense of mission.”

‘Wow, this is actually pretty cool. The K-Force should learn something like this.’

It felt like a scene from a movie. Deciding to collaborate with Egan was turning out to be a pretty good choice. Jin-Hyeok took the first step. “I will lead the way.”

Cha Jin-Sol, Mok Jae-Hyeon, Kim Jeong-Hyeon, and Lee-Hyeon Seong solemnly walked behind him. The Avengers Army followed suit.

[You have entered the Haeundae Dungeon.]

They arrived inside the Haeundae Dungeon. The weather inside the Dungeon was very pleasant.

“The blue sea, and the wide, sprawling white sand beach are visible.”

This area had already been cleared by the Avengers Army before.

“We need to find the hidden boat here and move to the island across the horizon,” Jin-Hyeok added.

Han Sae-Rin, who was previously a Navigator, and Black Panther, a competent Navigator of the Avengers Army, were both in the team. Black Panther, who had experience in this area, took the lead in guiding them.

“There, between the coastal cliffs, we can acquire a rowboat in the cave. Everyone needs to move. That is the only way to generate enough rowboats for all thirty-six of us.” Dressed in black skin-tight clothes, Black Panther looked a bit like an Assassin, with a long, cat-like tail. Apparently, it helped him maintain balance in dangerous places.

‘But... Should I tell them or not?’

An insect-type monster was lurking under this white sand beach, targeting the team.

‘Shouldn’t they kill the monster first before doing anything else? Why does Black Panther, and even Sae-Rin, seem so oblivious of this?’

Jin-Hyeok checked just in case. “Yo, you’re just ignoring it on purpose, right?”

‘It must be something that does not affect the clear of the Dungeon that much. I guess that’s why they’re ignoring the monster.’

However, Sae-Rin’s reaction was a bit strange.

1. In Korea, white chrysanthemum flowers are commonly used in funeral floral arrangements to say goodbye to the deceased. ☜

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