I Gave Up Being Stronger

Chapter 79

Joseph could not take his eyes off the screen.

‘Even if it’s Kim Chul-So, this is going to be impossible,’ Joseph thought.

He felt the brilliant rookie was about to meet his demise.

That was the thing about Playing. No matter how exceptional a Player was, once they died, it was over.

Kim Chul-Soo seemed to have been overly greedy.

‘Please, don’t die.’

In the first-person view, Chul-Soo was barely evading the attacks of the Headless Knights. His powerful Broadcaster’s Barrier and agile movements were all failing to nullify the attacks from the monsters.

‘He got stabbed in his thigh three times already.’

For Players with weak mental strength, such injuries were enough to make them give up already. In the Korean Region Minor Gallery, posts claiming that Chul-Soo’s journey had come to an end were rapidly appearing.

-Looks like Kim Chul-Soo is done for, LOL.

-He was too greedy and got punished for that. Haha~

-He thought he was invincible! And that Dungeon is limited to one person, so no one can go in to save him, lol. Bye, bye~

┗You’re pissing me off. If Chul-Soo dies, I’m gonna stop using the KRMG. Without Chul-Soo, what else is there to watch on this tiny-ass Earth Server?

┗Bye~ Nobody is stopping you. Go back to your planet~

┗You piece of shit. You wanna fight?

┗Cry more plz.

┗I’m gonna find you.

┗Sure, buddy. My house is on Mars.

As if things weren’t bad enough, a stronger monster than the Headless Knight appeared.

-What was that monster called again? Bodiless Knight? That guy’s head is ginormous!

-Look at that hideous face. So damn ugly.

A giant monster with only its massive face came into view. Its eye sockets were hollowed out as there were no eyeballs. Its mouth was slit on both sides, and large teeth protruded from it. The teeth wriggled like living creatures.

-Why are its teeth moving around? Disgusting.

-I think those are snakes.

Each tooth was actually a white snake monster. Its appearance was so grotesque that it instinctively evoked feelings of disgust from anyone who looked at it.

-Wait, are those hairs or centipedes?

-I was watching on the SSP, but had to turn it off. So gross.

-I almost threw up for real.

Chul-Soo’s livestreams were always in first-person view, which added a realistic aspect to the livestream. Many viewers from Earth who were not accustomed to such perspectives stopped watching the livestream.

However, Joseph could not take his eyes off the screen. If Chul-Soo were to die here, he had to remember the moment.

‘I don’t know when I’ll encounter another star like him.’

Among the gems Joseph had seen, this one shone the brightest. He focused even more on the screen.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Cha Jin-Hyeok was almost out of breath. No matter how overtly he focused on defense and evasion, the Headless Knights were formidable monsters for Jin-Hyeok to face.

‘How many more of these monsters are there?’

After a certain amount of time, the boss monster, Bodiless One, would reveal itself.

Jin-Hyeok barely managed to dodge a spear thrust toward his side. When he was nearing his limit, finally, something enormous started to appear from the hole in the ceiling.

‘It’s finally here.’

Bodiless One. A massive face was descending slowly from the ceiling.

This was where the real battle started.

“I’ll go in one shot.”

Jin-Hyeok raised his dagger.

“I’m going to attempt suicide.”

Without hesitation, Jin-Hyeok stabbed himself in the heart. Instantly dying was crucial. Even a slight hesitation could make it difficult to trigger the instant death condition.

‘Good. This is perfect.’

His vision darkened. For a moment, he felt dizzy, but soon he opened his eyes again.

The KRMG was in chaos. People were astonished by Chul-Soo’s suicide attempt, followed immediately by his resurrection.

-Who the hell executes a suicide so perfectly?

Joseph was also witnessing Jin-Hyeok’s madness in real time. The first-person view made it even more captivating. Chul-Soo had stabbed his own heart without any hesitation.

‘That’s true madness,’ Joseph thought.

The screen darkened. Joseph murmured with a solemn expression, “Kim Chul-Soo’s era… It’s over… Wait!”

Suddenly, the screen brightened again.

“Oh, I’m alive. I guess I’m lucky,” Jin-Hyeok said.

The Headless Knights and the Bodiless One were all gone. The dagger was still lodged in Jin-Hyeok’s heart, and he pulled it out.

“I need to stop the bleeding. Please wait for a second.”

Jin-Hyeok’s attitude was remarkably calm.

“The hole in my chest has been patched up. Luckily, my gamble had paid off. Ah, I will explain why I Played like this. I paid close attention to what the skeleton said earlier.”

Jin-Hyeok smirked. He was eager to tell what happened, and his heart pounded with excitement.

‘Livestreaming is so much fun!’

Jin-Hyeok played a portion of the video that he had recorded earlier.

“Only through death can the flower of hope bloom. The flower needs to grow by itself. Ah, how white and beautiful the flower was. It seemed to embody a pure life. Remember, only flowers can drive away death.”

Smoothly executing the ideas he had planned in his mind was as satisfying as killing monsters.

“I got the idea from the skeleton blatantly telling me that I had to die. After analyzing what she said, it was basically a suggestion to commit suicide. There is no way I can win the battle anyway, and surprisingly, this worked.”

Of course, Jin-Hyeok did not just try this on a whim. In fact, this method was the clearing method discovered by Imanarii Kun, who later became known as the New Server Adventurer.

“I was lucky.”

As Jin-Hyeok had experienced in a different Server before the regression, the Seoul Scenario was a common System Scenario shared by most Servers. Although the names and details might be slightly different, the overall progression and rewards were very similar.

“Oh? A white flower is blooming on my chest. It’s where the hole was.”

It was a white flower. As the flower bloomed, white petals began to flutter down from the hole in the ceiling. Then, as the sunlight shined through, the grass started to grow on the floor.

As the warm spring breeze blew, the fluttering petals flew toward where the skeleton was earlier. In an instant, the creaking of a door opening was heard, followed by the sound of footsteps approaching.

The old woman, who had previously appeared as a skeleton, revealed her human form.

Now she looked completely like a human. Holding a staff, she approached Jin-Hyeok and knelt before him.

“Ah, you are the one who bloomed the white flower.”

“The flower fell on its own. It is flying toward the old woman’s hand,” Jin-Hyeok said to the viewers.

The white flower touched the old woman’s hand.

“You have driven away death and bloomed the flower willingly.”

Then the old woman continued speaking. It was quite a long speech, but for Jin-Hyeok, it sounded meaningless.

“To the one worthy of reverence, may the light’s protection be with you,” the old woman said.

She crawled closer to Jin-Hyeok and kissed his feet with deep respect.

[You have cleared the Event Dungeon 「Hope Rising From the Ruins」.]

Soon, everything disappeared. Jin-Hyeok stood in an empty dark space with nothing left. Then, three chests appeared, emitting golden dust.

[You will receive a reward for clearing the Event Dungeon 「Hope Rising From the Ruins」.]

[Choose one of the three chests.]

[You have twenty seconds.]

Numbers appeared in front of Jin-Hyeok.

[20:00]

[18:22]

As the number rapidly decreased, Jin-Hyeok heard a voice.

“Whatever you choose, you will be rightfully revered. Now, the flower petals of your beginning will flutter. Take the first step toward the reverence of your future.”

Even with Broadcaster’s Clairvoyance, it was impossible to know the details about the chests, and he could not use Exclusive In-Depth Interview as that would take too much time.

Jin-Hyeok did not hesitate.

[You used the Mystery 「Pure Luck」.]

Fortunately, the Mystery was off cooldown.

Thud!

Jin-Hyeok felt a huge shock in his head. It was the side effect of consecutively using the Pure Luck.

‘My head feels like it’s going to explode…’

In that brief moment, he saw a lightning strike.

It was the first chest. He reached out his hand toward that chest.

[You have chosen 「Chest 1」 as your reward.]

The lid of the chest opened, and an item popped out.

‘T-That’s!’

Jin-Hyeok recognized the item.

[Rule Breaker]

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Rule Breaker.

This was a Mythic-Grade item.

Mythic-Grade was not a classification of the System, but of users. It was a grade usually given to extremely rare items, even among Server-level items, and their number was extremely small.

‘Holy crap. This is actually the Rule Breaker!’

Among the Players from the Earth Server, no one had possessed the Rule Breaker. There were rumors that some absolute beings on Planet Arvis had it, and the Sword Master Zoro from the Outul Server, who had handed Jin-Hyeok a defeat, had the Rule Breaker.

‘But it looks a bit less impressive than what I know.’

It was an item that looked like a small hammer. The Rule Breaker he knew had much more intricate designs with various decorations and runic inscriptions, but the Rule Breaker he was holding was just a plain golden hammer.

[Rule Breaker (Upgradable) (Bound)]

[A weapon that can destroy the laws.]

‘Wait, this item is upgradable?’

It was an item that grew alongside the owner’s growth. That was what an Upgradable item was.

“It claims it can destroy the laws. I will have to find out more about what it can destroy.”

Since there was no detailed description, Jin-Hyeok had no choice but to see it for himself.

Suddenly, sparks flew.

‘Huh?’

The Rule Breaker was resisting Jin-Hyeok. It also seemed to have a slight will of its own, like Mysteries.

‘It’s resisting me? Me? How dare you!’

It hurt Jin-Hyeok’s pride a little bit. He thought of using Unleashing Technique to try and unlock it, thinking it might be some kind of barrier or magical effect. However, he stopped himself, fearing that unlocking the full power of the Rule Breaker could cause trouble.

Zap! Zap!

Sparks continued to shock him. It felt like his hand was burning, but he endured it with his superhuman mental strength.

“How can I tame this item?”

The answer was not difficult to find.

[You have unlocked the Achievement「All-Clear (Hope Rising From the Ruins)」.]

After the Sareoga Mart Dungeon, Jin-Hyeok unlocked another All-Clear Achievement. Another All-Clear mark appeared on the back of his right hand.

Unknowingly, his body trembled.

“The effect of the All-Clear is nothing special.”

Among all the All-Clear effects Jin-Hyeok knew, this was the least versatile one. It allowed him to subdue any item related to the 4th Seoul Scenario.

“It’s not like tons of items with this much resistance will appear in this Dungeon.”

Items with some kind of resistance were already rare, and it was unlikely to encounter many of them in one Dungeon.

“Nevertheless, it is good that I can use the Achievement right here. I will try to subdue the Rule Breaker.”

Jin-Hyeok immediately applied the All-Clear (Hope Rising From the Ruins) effect. The Rule Breaker, which had been resisting, finally became his.

Several pieces of information were inputted into his mind.

‘Oh?’

With the current Rule Breaker, there were not many things he could do. However, one thing was certain.

‘I can break the class restrictions on items!’

As Players went higher in Level, the boundaries of classes became clearer. One of the reasons for this was the restrictions on items. A high-Level Swordsman’s sword could not be used by a high-Level Archer.

‘And with the Rule Breaker, I can ignore that restriction!’

In other words, he just became a Streamer who could use high-Level swords exclusive to Swordsmen.

‘Wow… I never even thought of this. So, even if I become a high-Level Streamer, I can still use swords?’

Jin-Hyeok could not believe it. Just thinking about it made his heart race.

‘Moreover, it is a Bound item, which means there is no risk of it being stolen or taken.’

Bound items disappeared when their owner died. This meant Jin-Hyeok could show this on his livestream without worry.

‘I shouldn’t be this excited, but I can’t help it!’

Jin-Hyeok tried his best to stay calm and continued the livestream.

“But I don’t understand why I’m still inside the Dungeon.”

From Jin-Hyeok’s recollection, there was no setting that required finding a separate exit.

‘Do I need to find the exit myself?’

As he wondered, the space in front of him started to distort and something appeared.

‘Why is that guy here all of a sudden?’

A person in black clothing revealed their presence. They were wearing a mask, so Jin-Hyeok could not see their face. However, one red eye was visible.

The ominously shining red eye was unsettling.

‘The Shadow of the Secret Chamber?’

They were an assassin group directly operated by the System, also known as the System Guardians. They were the cleaners mobilized to remove elements that caused harm to the System.

‘What’s going on? I have a bad feeling about this.’

It seemed like they were here to kill Jin-Hyeok.