I Gave Up Being Stronger

Cha Jin-Hyeok moved closer to the Golden Guardian Tree.

Right now, not wearing the Deceiver’s Mask was more convenient. During Play, he had to pay attention to several things, so reducing the number of these things, whatever they were, was helpful. Deceiver’s Mask was better for him when he was not livestreaming. Using it in his everyday life was far more comfortable.

Jin-Hyeok arrived in front of the Guardian Tree.

-“A splendid idea indeed! Although the difference is slight, enhancing by my side is definitely more advantageous!”

Jin-Hyeok adjusted the settings of the Guardian Tree so that no one could approach it within a twenty-meter radius. Those who were already within the area were gradually pushed out. Then, he created a semi-transparent dome-shaped barrier outside the area. The people driven outside of the radius pressed their faces against the barrier, trying to peek inside.

-“Regaining your initial determination is important! You shall block the gaze of those human beings!”

The semi-transparent dsoon turned a golden color, completely blocking the view from outside.

Jin-Hyeok leaned against the Guardian Tree and sat down, immersing himself in a moment of meditation. Before he proceeded with the enhancement, focusing his mind and meditation were essential. Even though that would take stime, it did not matter, since he could edit those parts out later.

“Hehe.”

Jin-Hyeok slowly opened his eyes.

“I see you have opened your eyes, my Planter, my master.”

Jin-Hyeok almost lost his balance and fell over. The Guardian Tree that had been supporting his back had vanished without a trace; a small girl had appeared in its place instead. She seemed to be of a similar age to the young Fire Spirit, Elines. This girl had been supporting Jin-Hyeok’s back with hers.

“...What’s going on?” Jin-Hyeok instinctively knew this girl was the Guardian Tree, but he did not understand why the Guardian Tree had taken on a human form.

“My desire to walk was strong,” the Guardian Tree replied.

“...”

“So that I could smash our foes’ heads more effectively, hehe.”

“...”

“As your Level increased, I reached a point where I could materialize and implement my will.”

A closer inspection revealed that her right hand was round. It seemed like in place of a hand, she had a small mace.

Feeling Jin-Hyeok’s gaze, the Guardian Tree raised her right hand and lovingly stroked it. “The Black FlDragon sleeping in my right hand will smash the heads of our enemies!”

“...Hey, but why do you look so weird?” Jin-Hyeok understood her strong desire. He could also accept that her right hand could turn into a weapon. However, her face was just indescribable.

“What’s wrong with how I look?”

“You look like a five-year-old who stole her mother’s makeup and smeared on lipstick.”

“How dare you! I was inspired by the Thunder Dragon!”

Not only her appearance but also her way of speaking was quite strange. However, this was not the first tthe Guardian Tree had acted strangely, so Jin-Hyeok decided to let it go.

“And what about those high heels? They are bizarre.”

“Such insolence to a lady!”

“...”

Jin-Hyeok had never heard that the Guardian Tree had a gender.

“And did you cover your face in flour?” Jin-Hyeok asked. Saying it was flour was being too kind. What she had done to her face was slightly terrifying. It was a classic case of children terribly imitating adults.

“If you had a mother, she would have smacked you on the back,” Jin-Hyeok added.

“Wow, talking about my mother… very befitting of my master.”

“...”

She seemed quite excited. “Let’s proceed with the enhancement, now!”

***

Jin-Hyeok had to find the optimal timing for the enhancement and proceed with it in the best condition. That had to be the attitude of a Player trying to enhance something.

“Let’s do our best! Let’s do your best!” The Guardian Tree, engrossed in the enhancement, suddenly snapped back to reality and started speaking in that strange tone again.

“Just stay still. You’re disrupting me.”

“Understood…” The Guardian Tere looked a bit downcast.

For now, it was important to tinker with the conditions of Picasso’s Brush, so Jin-Hyeok decided to console her later. He took a long breath.

However, Jin-Hyeok felt that the Mystery was unwilling to activate. Since it had a will of its own, forcing it to activate would not yield good results.

[The ⌜Rule Breaker⌟ has been applied to ⌜Picasso’s Brush⌟.]

Numerous illusions flashed through his mind. It felt like data values made of zeros and ones were whizzing by. Amid all this, Jin-Hyeok had to find the value he wanted.

Jin-Hyeok struck down with the Rule Breaker again.

Among the illusions, a crack formed on the image of Picasso’s Brush.

Picasso’s Brush cracked.

[⌜Picasso’s Brush⌟ has been destroyed.]

The luminous Picasso’s Brush turned to ash gray. The broken Server-grade item rolled on the ground, split in half.

“Ah…”

Although Jin-Hyeok had been prepared for failure, his heart ached when it actually happened. This was how enhancement worked. Even though he comforted himself, he could not suppress the bitter feeling. Still, as a professional Streamer, he continued filming.

“The enhancement… has failed.” With a heavy heart, Jin-Hyeok did a close-up of the broken Picasso’s Brush. “Picasso’s Brush has been broken.”

“Ex-excuse me…”

Suddenly hearing an unfamiliar voice, Jin-Hyeok snapped out of his meditation and stood up. Someone had broken through the barrier of the Guardian Tree and entered the protected space, and because of this, the Guardian Tree was lying unconscious.

However, the voice carried no malice. Jin-Hyeok saw a black silhouette before him. The shadow seemed to flicker, and he could not clearly make out who it was.

“D-Don’t be scared. My nis… K-Kim Min-Ji…” The voice sounded quite young and seemed to belong to a girl.

Jin-Hyeok could not see her face clearly, but the girl seemed to be in her late teens.

“I-I am Chul-Soo Land No.1.”

“Ah… You are a member of Chul-Soo Land?”

Wang Yu-Mi had told Jin-Hyeok to speak informally with the Chul-Soo Landers as such a practice was customary in fan clubs, and fans loved informal speech more. That seemed to be true.

It was interesting. Jin-Hyeok could not see her face, but somehow, he knew her face was turning red.

“How did you get in here?” he asked.

“I h-have a r-rare ability that letsa-avoid barriers and e-enter any space.” She stammered a lot and seemed very intimidated by him. “D-Don’t worry about the Guardian Tree. She is just asleep for a moment. I did not hurt her. Really.”

“...”

“I…I actually know a lot of things and really wanted to help you, Chul-Soo… I am sorry for intruding like this!”

The person in front of Jin-Hyeok had penetrated the Guardian Tree’s barrier and appeared before him; it was an entity he could not see through with Broadcaster’s Clairvoyance. Obviously, she was much stronger than him.

“How are you going to help me?” he asked.

“You were trying to enhance something, right?”

Jin-Hyeok was just recording a video, titled Enhancement; he hadn’t released it to the public yet.

“And… it looks like you just failed.”

“Yes, it was heartbreaking,” Jin-Hyeok replied.

“Don’t be sad. If you are sad… I might cry.”

When Jin-Hyeok mentioned that it was heartbreaking, the person named Min-Ji seemed even more shocked.

He could feel tears forming in her eyes. It was really strange to feel all this even though he could not see her face.

“If I follow you too eagerly, my mom will scold me.” Her words made it seem like she was a kid, but her presence felt so immense. “So, it’s difficult to help you much, b-b-b-but… I’m really sorry…”

“What is it?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“Well… it’s just that…”

“...”

“Could you…. Could you please hold my hand? I’m sorry…” Min-Ji asked.

Jin-Hyeok felt her heat up. He was a bit on guard, wondering if this was a new assassination technique, but at this moment, being wary of her seemed pointless. If she wanted to, she could do anything to him.

He extended his hand. She hesitantly reached out a finger and barely touched the tip of his hand. Suddenly, the entire world around him darkened, as if he had entered outer space.

“This is a kind of hacker room,” she explained.

“A hacker room?”

“Y-Yes. I know a bit about hacking…”

Jin-Hyeok vaguely remembered Yu-Mi mentioning something about a hacker.

“We don’t have much time… but I can tweak ssettings here to help you.” She took out the vibrating phone from her pocket, ignored the incoming call, and turned it off.

“You have the Extra Life Trait, don’t you, Chul-Soo?” she asked.

“Yes, I do.”

“If you use it, I can restore the broken Picasso’s Brush.”

“Really?”

Extra Life was a relatively common ability. Jin-Hyeok had never heard of anyone using it to restore an item.

“B-But, in return, Extra Life will be completely gone.”

Jin-Hyeok knew that past Level 200, having Extra Life was not that significant. Most attacks at higher Levels far exceeded the settings of Extra Life.

“D-Do you agree to this?” Min-Ji said.

“Yes.”

“But there is a minor problem.”

“What is it?” Jin-Hyeok’s heart started to race. More precisely, God of Luck was going wild. The Mystery that had refused to act earlier was squirming as if it were having a fit. At this point, Jin-Hyeok was certain this was a fateful opportunity.

“You need to commit suicide once with the Rule Breaker…” Min-Ji explained.

“Suicide?”

“Y-Yes, but it’s a bit more difficult than you might think…”

To Jin-Hyeok, who had died many times, this was an easy task. “It sounds simple.”

***

Jin-Hyeok struck his temple with the Rule Breaker.

With the experience he had accumulated, maintaining such fine control was not difficult. Jin-Hyeok instantly died on the spot.

Watching this, Min-Ji—or rather, the Mad God of Favoritism—cast her eyes down and fidgeted with her toes. “So cool…!”

Not only was the precise control of the Rule Breaker impressive, but the way he struck his temple without a moment’s hesitation was also perfect. Such an act was impossible without self-assurance. The Mad God of Favoritism gulped hard at the sight of Jin-Hyeok’s complete belief in himself.

When he died, the Extra Life Trait was activated. At that moment, black arms stretched out from various directions in the hacker room and passed through Jin-Hyeok, rummaging around here and there. Soon, they extracted a glowing green pattern and transplanted it into Picasso’s Brush.

The Mad God of Favoritism said, “Do not resist.”

Her tone and attitude were markedly different from when she had earlier spoken to Jin-Hyeok. Fitting for a fragment of a God, her voice was filled with strong power and authority.

When the Mad God of Favoritism placed the writhing green pattern that was resisting and squirming into Picasso’s Brush, color began to return to the previously ashen brush.

Min-Ji quickly placed a pre-prepared note on top of Picasso’s Brush and hurriedly left the scene. She decided to maintain the hacker room for another five minutes—to prepare for the possibility of people flocking into the territory of the Guardian Tree as she had briefly knocked out the tree to penetrate her barrier.

Slowly opening his eyes, Jin-Hyeok discovered Picasso’s Brush restored to its original state and the note on top of it.

After looking at Picasso’s Brush and the note, Jin-Hyeok laughed out loud.