I Gave Up Being Stronger

Park Terse had not taken a step outside the house Cha Jin-Hyeok had provided to him. He devoted all his dedication and tto bonding with his new friend, Mr. Gobble, previously known as the Swallowing Croaker.

After his special efforts, Terse had reached a level where he could communicate with Mr. Gobble to a certain extent. However, rather than just communicating, it was more about Terse understanding Mr. Gobble’s inner thoughts and feelings.

“Those guys are probably affiliated with the Black Alliance, Mr. Gobble.” Tears welled up in Terse’s eyes. He could sense the experiences and pain that Mr. Gobble had suffered in the facility.

“I will protect you, Mr. Gobble.” He put his index finger into the fishbowl and reached toward Mr. Gobble. Mr. Gobble, as if understanding his feelings, rubbed against his finger.

“Ah, my lovely Mr. Gobble.” Terse expressed his affection by gently tapping Mr. Gobble’s dorsal fin with his index finger. “They kept feeding you weird and filthy stuff, didn’t they, Mr. Gobble?”

He already knew what they were feeding it, the Unidentifiable Fibrous Material. Terse had given all information about it to Angel Girl Song Ha-Young so that she could continue researching what the material was.

“Today, Angel Girl is supposed to visit us, Mr. Gobble. It would be nice if there was smore good news for you.”

Suddenly, a person jumped out from his shadow and said, “Are you still crazy about that fish?”

Terse screamed in shock! “AH! The doorbell is not just a decoration, you know?”

“Have you ever seen a Thief ring the doorbell?”

“This is a hinvasion.”

“Thanks for the compliment.” Ha-Young casually sat on the sofa. Despite making these heavy movements, strangely, she made no sound. “You speak so respectfully to the fish, but you speak informally to me.”

“It’s not a fish. It’s Mr. Gobble. I wish you would call it by its name.”

“Fine, Mr. Gobble. Anyway, as we suspected, Mr. Gobble and the Black Alliance are related, and it’s almost certain that they are connected to the Paper Sorcerer Makendra. The Unidentifiable Fibrous Material is also definitely the material her Paper Soldiers are made with.”

Ha-Young despised Makendra. Due to Makendra exerting her influence around the world, the Black Rose Alliance led by Ha-Young had suffered. Ha-Young had been in the process of expanding the Black Rose Alliance’s influence worldwide. She had set up several branches with great efforts, only for Makendra to completely destroy them.

“That pervert is definitely looking for something. Yeah, but let’s put that aside. Why is Makendra taking out her frustration on my alliance members when she’s the one who can’t find what she wants?” Ha-Young said.

Makendra had destroyed three branches of the Black Rose Alliance, killing dozens of overseas dispatched personnel in the process.

“If she’s looking for information, she could do it quietly. Even thinking about her makesfurious!”

“Did you chere to gossip? I’m a bit busy at the moment,” Terse replied.

“You’ve been hfor the past three days. What are you busy with?”

“I have to bond with Mr. Gobble.”

“...” Ha-Young shook her head, thinking he had becinsane. “And the extracted digestive fluid?”

“It’s over there.”

Ha-Young noticed the black briefcase. It was an artifact made of aluminum with added refrigeration functionality. Inside it were tubes shaped like blood collection tubes, half-filled with green liquid. Terse called these Treasure Tubes.

“Was it difficult to extract?” she asked.

“No. If I bring the Treasure Tube close to Mr. Gobble, it spits out the digestive fluid on its own.” Terse demonstrated that.

“Wow, it does work!”

“Yes. Mr. Gobble also feels much more comfortable. Thank you!”

“You were raging about how barbaric it was. I guess you’re fine with it now.”

“That’s because I didn’t understand Mr. Gobble back then.”

Mr. Gobble was suffering from a disease caused by the terrible torture of being forced to eat the Unidentified Fibrous Material continuously—it produced excessive digestive fluid. Periodically drawing out the correct amount of digestive fluid was much better for Mr. Gobble.

“But what are you going to do with this?” Terse asked.

“Why do you think Makendra did this to Mr. Gobble?”

“Are you sure it was Makendra?” Terse was also angry at Makendra since she was the one who had been cruel to his cute and lovely Mr. Gobble.

“Yes. I am one hundred percent certain, but I don’t have any concrete evidence.”

“But why would Makendra do this to Mr. Gobble?”

“She must have wanted to create Paper Soldiers that could withstand this digestive fluid,” Ha-Young said as her eyes narrowed. “Didn’t you say those Black Alliance guys are still looking for Mr. Gobble?”

“Yes. That’s why I am hiding within the protective domain of the Guardian Tree. It’s a very unfortunate reality. I want to show Mr. Gobble the sea and beautiful lakes.”

“Well, you figure that out. Anyway, if they are still looking for Mr. Gobble, it means they have not found any alternatives to overcthis digestive fluid yet.” Ha-Young grinned, pleased. “If we research this, we might be able to hit Makendra where it hurts.”

***

A few days ago, in a Shop Field located in Jongno-3-ga, Mulinus, a craftsman and a one-eyed giant, lifted a small gem. “I did it.”

Beside him, a man with a voluptuous and sensuous figure, Katrina, clapped his hands with a loud snap. “I knew you’d do it!”

These two had been working together on quite a big project. It was an item development project conducted by the MK Foundation. It involved refining the mysterious undiluted solution Ha-Young had given them into a gem.

Katrina, with a broad smile, greeted someone. “Unnie! Welcome!”

The newcomer was a VIP of the Trinity Club, known across the universe as the biggest spender, MoneyShot. Her Earth nwas Jang Michelle. She was the chairperson of the MK Foundation and the one who had commissioned this project.

“I heard you completed it. Kim Chul-Soo will be here soon, so let’s talk in detail then,” Michelle said.

Soon after, Jin-Hyeok and Ha-Young arrived at Mulinus’s workshop. After exchanging brief greetings, Mulinus handed Jin-Hyeok the small gem.

“This is the Treasure Gem requested by the MK Foundation. It’s a gem containing the treasure. I’m not sure why this nearly poisonous thing is called a treasure.”

It was named like that because Terse called the undiluted solution the treasure, though his reason for calling it that was unknown.

“I have turned it into a buff item that can be attached to weapon-type artifacts. Katrina’s help was significant,” Mulinus said.

Katrina stood up, grasped the hem of his dress, covered his chest, and bowed gracefully. He was quite flirty in front of Michelle. True to his voluptuous and sensuous male physique, his pectoral muscles were imposing.

“But there is still a problem.”

“What problem?”

“What you call a treasure is technically poison. The solution was somewhat poisonous to begin with, but the refining process turned it into an actual poison. It has the characteristic of dissolving anything. It is a special poison that even dissolves substances that do not react chemically. It can melt human flesh. This small gem contains enough liquid to swallow about five adult men.”

“The term swallow has a nice ring to it.”

Since the solution was from the Swallowing Croaker, Jin-Hyeok liked how Mulinus described it. As Jin-Hyeok smiled, Mulinus continued, “I did my best to seal it, but spoison will inevitably leak out. Moreover, it is difficult to store for long. Katrina managed to somehow seal it with the engraved barrier formu—”

“I don’t need to know how it works. So, you’re saying it has a shelf life?”

“S-Shelf life?” Mulinus was not pleased to hear his masterpiece treated like groceries, but the term shelf life seemed fitting. “Yeah, well, once the shelf life expires, the gem itself will dissolve. And the treasure inside will spill out. If you’re lucky, it will ruin only your inventory; in the worst case, it can also melt the holder’s body.”

Jin-Hyeok let out a deep sigh. “Mulinus. You introducedto the Korean Region Minor Gallery. The concept of the IntenseMan started somewhat with your foundation.”

Jin-Hyeok reflexively recalled their first conversation. This content could also be turned into a video later, so he wanted to recall their exact conversation.

Jin-Hyeok frowned and continued, “And as a person who knowsthat well, you don’t watch my livestreams?”

“...What?”

“If you watched my livestreams, you wouldn’t say that. Don’t you know I consumed the Phoenix Heart?”

Mulinus was speechless. For him, watching livestreams was just a hobby. It was fun but not an essential part of his daily life.

“If you want to keep doing business with me, subscribing to and liking my content is essential,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“...Is that so?”

“Of course.” Jin-Hyeok lifted the Treasure Gem and broke it above his head. A small amount of the gem’s content, the digestive fluid of the Swallowing Croaker, trickled down.

Mulinus recoiled in horror. “W-What the hell are you doing?”

“See? I’m immune to any poison below the level of the Snake King.”

Michelle clapped her hands. “You made exactly what I wanted! It looks good for Chul-Soo to use too.”

Pleased, she took out a thick leather pouch from her bosom.

“I didn’t count it, but I brought my piggy bank. It is much more than what we initially talked about,” Michelle said while winking at Jin-Hyeok. “Please showsomething fun with this, Chul-Soo. I like your edited videos, but I prefer your livestreams. You understand, right?”

“I will keep the promise.”

***

“I will keep the promise.”

Jin-Hyeok decided to title his livestream ‘Justice Served.’ In the past, titles like ‘SSS-Rank this and that’ were trendy, but nowadays, short and impactful titles were in vogue. It worked out very well for Jin-Hyeok.

He started the livestream, and viewers quickly began to pour in. Notably, he had sent an invitation to Michelle, so she was the first to enter.

Makendra tilted her head in confusion. “Promise? What promise?”

“You don’t need to know.”

“Heh, still so cheeky. It’s quite adorable how unshaken you are.”

“I chose the first option.”

Jin-Hyeok seized the opportunity and swung his Greatsword of La’kan.

His sword sliced through the air. Just as he expected, Makendra’s abilities were much stronger than his. He had attacked her, aiming for the gap, but could not even graze her.

Jin-Hyeok was not really trying to attack her. He just needed to create a slight opening. At that time, Ha-Young would rescue the Seo sisters.

“Playing quite a clever game, aren’t you? Well, fine. It’s fun to crush something that squirms!” Makendra went on with her rant, and Jin-Hyeok continued his livestream in his own way. He gave a brief explanation as to why Ha-Young was here.

“Fortunately, Angel Girl was hiding around here. She bears a grudge against Makendra and has been monitoring her movements. When Makendra started moving toward this palace, Angel Girl followed her here.”

Jin-Hyeok zoomed in on the Seo sisters on the screen. Suddenly, he lost his fierceness.

The Seo sisters were in an appalling condition. Such injuries were too familiar and really nothing big, but somehow, he did not want to see them. It felt like he was under sstrange mental attack.

Nevertheless, as a Streamer, he tried to regain his fierceness. He captured the Seo sisters on screen. The paper chains that had bound them were gone, but the Paper Soldiers still surrounded the sisters and Ha-Young.

“Unfortunately, they failed to escape,” Jin-Hyeok said to the viewers.

It was not really a failure. With the sisters’ injuries, expecting the group to break through the Paper Soldiers’ encirclement and escape was never a realistic hope.

“But Angel Girl has a special ability.”

Jin-Hyeok’s livestream, Justice Served, had just begun.