I Gave Up Being Stronger

Chapter 42

Ding!

Choi Gap-Soo just received a notification on his cell phone.

He was not using a Korean message app. It was the System's message app, but it was automatically linked to his KakaoTalk.[1]

Its features and interface were exactly the same as KakaoTalk.

[MoneyShot: You sneaky little…]

[MoneyShot: Why would you emphasize your name on the product…]

After just glancing at the messages, Gap-Soo flipped his phone over.

He was very satisfied.

“Haha! You can call this the skill of the seasoned veteran that none of those newbies can copy!”

The younger Players who were just starting to show some potential could not match his experience. It felt like his self-esteem was being boosted every second.

“But is he going to attack that monster directly?”

Kim Chul-Soo raised his dagger and approached the Golden Horned Toad.

“Does he even have a Skill that is purely an attacking Skill?”

The Golden Horned Toad was a Level 47 boss monster. It was quite difficult for a low-Level Streamer to hunt it down on his own.

Gap-Soo was a little worried.

“This is not the time for him to be full of himself.”

Streamers needed to be Streamers. He had seen countless instances of Streamers mimicking combatant-type Players and killing themselves. They could survive by doing that if they were below Level 100, but after that, it was just not possible.

This was something he had learned through experience.

“Oh well, he should be fine for a while. His defensive stats are pretty strong too.”

Most of the Initially Awakened Streamers used Broadcaster’s Barrier. Among them, Chul-Soo was one of those who used it very well.

Even with the same sword, its power varied depending on who wielded it. In Gap-Soo’s eyes, Chul-Soo’s ability to utilize the Broadcaster’s Barrier was the best.

He heard Chul-Soo’s voice from the screen.

⌜I am going to stab it with this poisoned dagger.⌟

The first-person perspective made the battle scene quite realistic. Chul-Soo’s dagger stabbed the Golden Horned Toad in the back.

Stab!

He didn’t just stop after that.

Stab! Stab! Stab!

Jin-Hyeok stabbed the monster repeatedly in the back. Green blood spurted out and soaked his entire body.

⌜If it wasn’t for the Broadcaster’s Barrier, it would have been quite painful.⌟

The green blood that made contact with the Broadcaster’s Barrier made a hissing sound. It did not do much damage to Jin-Hyeok. His voice was quite peaceful.

⌜I think Mr. MoneyShower’s potion is working very well.⌟

He took the time to emphasize the potion again. The Golden Horned Toad lay on its stomach, its limbs twitching. Outwardly, it looked as if it had been mortally wounded.

⌜I did not expect this to have such a great effect. This potion is truly remarkable.⌟

The battle was stopped for the time being as the Golden Horned Toad convulsed. Gap-Soo, very pleased with today’s livestream, rubbed his chin and focused on the screen.

“It’s simply the effect of the poison that has made the toad so weak. It has not actually taken much damage. Has he noticed that?”

This was the window of opportunity. This was the time for all the damage dealers to attack in unison.

“If they do not kill it right now, it'll be going into phase two. Sooner or later, the monster will develop a tolerance to the poison.”

Gap-Soo wished he could tell Chul-Soo that in chat. Other viewers were probably feeling the same way. Gap-Soo wanted to give Chul-Soo the information, but Chul-Soo had completely closed the lines of communication.

Chul-Soo needed to attack now!

He needed to kill it now with everything his party had!

Gap-Soo could imagine the other viewers were thinking the same.

Gap-Soo wanted to tell Chul-Soo so badly.

“This is so frustrating."

Chul-Soo continued his relaxed livestream. He even stroked the Golden Horned Toad’s belly.

⌜It’s soft to the touch. If I poke it here, I will be able to kill it more easily.⌟

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

When Jin-Hyeok started to stab the Golden Horned Toad in the back, he had to fight his urge.

‘In moderation. I need to stab it with care.’

The monster had already allowed the other party members to attack it several times. Its back was much less durable because of this, and it was easy to see where to strike to inflict a fatal wound.

He could clearly see the ‘Ways’ that he had seen when he was the Sword King. Even with all his experience and memories, he wondered how he could see it clearly when his body had changed. If he had followed his instincts and just stabbed the monster following its path, the Golden Horned Toad would have been dead already.

‘I am an ordinary Streamer with no attack Skills. Killing the Golden Horned Toad with my attack so easily, without any Skills, is too much power for a Streamer.’

His goal was coming in third place. Although he was forced to participate in the raid himself, and almost lost his cool while swinging his dagger, he tried his best to be an ordinary Streamer.

It was not like that boss monster was a low-Level monster, so he would be in trouble if he took it down that easily.

If he was too good, those who hunt Awakened would be hounding him. Since he was in a very low-Level area, he did not have to worry too much about that, but he still wanted to be at least a little cautious.

‘I can’t show the world everything.’

He stabbed it just enough and did just enough damage. He also deliberately advertised the potion.

“I did not expect this to have such a great effect. This potion is truly remarkable.”

The others started attacking the fallen Golden Horned Toad. While they were doing that, Jin-Hyeok hopped on top of the monster and approached its mouth.

‘I need to be careful.’

He did not know when it would wake up, but when it did, it would spray a very powerful poison. If that hit him, he would almost certainly be dead.

Well, that didn't matter much because it was never going to hit him.

‘I believe the monster opened its poison glands inside right before spraying the venom.’

He just needed to be careful of that.

Jin-Hyeok forced its mouth open.

‘Ugh, its breath stinks.’

Well, the same can be said for most monsters, but this one’s breath was on another level. It was enough to make an untrained person faint.

‘That black mole in there is the poison gland.’

He did not bother telling that to his viewers. He just needed to be careful not to open it.

“I will pour my potion down the back of its throat. I think that will work the best, right?”

The potion itself would not be as effective if he just poured it down, as its mouth had a way of neutralizing poison.

Jin-Hyeok shoved his hand as far down its throat as he could.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The potion poured out.

‘Uh-oh. The poison gland is opening up.’

Jin-Hyeok pulled his hand out since he poured all of the potion. Then, he jumped off the monster’s body. Its poison spewed into the air, then poured down like rain.

‘Activate Broadcaster’s Barrier.’

He did not get hit directly, so it was okay.

“If I had gotten a direct hit, my face would have melted, but I didn’t so it doesn’t really matter.”

One bottle was not going to cut it, so he climbed on top of it again.

He poured another two vials of poison potions. However, it felt like the potions were not enough to kill it. The Golden Horned Toad was going to wake up eventually, and it would be difficult to defeat it when it goes into phase two. It seemed that their damage dealers were a bit weaker than he thought.

“Come to think of it, the mouth is usually a weak spot for any monster, so I will try stabbing it with my dagger.”

Jin-Hyeok thrust his arm in deep. Acidic poison spewed out of its mouth, but his Broadcaster’s Barrier protected him well.

He slashed at the inside of its throat with his dagger. While doing that, he was lucky enough to land a critical shot. It was a strange sensation that only the attacker could have felt.

‘Wow… I missed this feeling. Wait, no! This is not it!’

He almost laughed out loud but managed to hold it in.

A moment later, the Broadcaster’s Barrier protecting his arm broke. He pulled his arm out just in time.

“Wow! That was close! If I had pulled my arm out a little later, it would have melted.”

Ji-Soo clenched her teeth and stabbed the Golden Horned Toad in the stomach.

“Die!!”

The monster’s shield was almost nullified thanks to Jin-Hyeok’s critical hit. The Seo sisters had finished the job.

[You have killed the Golden Horned Toad.]

A Golden Horn was dropped and Jin-Hyeok picked it up.

[You have acquired the Golden Horn.]

An item that was dropped from killing a boss monster was likely to be valuable later on, so Jin-Hyeok kept it for now. The others did not have any complaints about him taking it either.

Meanwhile, Angel Girl smiled broadly. Jin-Hyeok found it kind of creepy that she was smiling while covered in green blood.

‘I guess she doesn’t own a mirror to fix herself.’

“We actually killed the monster!”

Angel Girl seemed overjoyed. She looked like an innocent little kid. She ran up to him and grabbed his hand, jumping up and down.

“I didn’t think we would actually succeed in killing it! You’re amazing!”

[#Now the gold is mine! #Give me the gold!]

“I am going to end the livestream now.”

Kang Mi-Na had taught him that Streamers had to end their livestream once they were in the looting phase. Streamers call this the cutting technique, but Jin-Hyeok remembered not to use it often because viewers did not like it when Streamers used it often.

Anyway, he thought it was best to turn off the livestream for now.

‘There might be murder happening soon.’

Killing people was controversial content for Streamers. It was better to just avoid it altogether.

Also, if a Thief stole from a Player, the best way for a Player to get their stuff back was to kill the Thief within five minutes. If they killed the Thief within five minutes, most of the stolen items would be dropped by the killed Thief.

Jin-Hyeok turned to look at Angel Girl, who was holding his hand and smiling broadly.

‘When are you going to pull a fast one? This time I can beat the crap out of you. I feel kind of excited.’

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Song Ha-Young was confident.

‘Now is a good time.’

As much as he pretended not to, that Streamer undoubtedly managed to escape from a tremendous crisis. It was such an intense situation that even a non-combatant-type Streamer had to personally engage in the battle. After overcoming such circumstances and achieving victory, it was only natural for him to let his guard down.

Furthermore, this man did not seem to doubt himself at all.

[You have used the Skill 「Touch of the Great Rogue」.]

A strange feeling of glee rose in her stomach. It felt like now, she could truly live without any worries.

Meanwhile, a System notification popped up.

[You have acquired the Hidden Achievement 「Fast Lane of Wealth」.]

This was what Jin-Hyeok was looking for. By taking the shortcut and clearing the boss monster, the Fast Lane of Wealth was awarded to the Players and its perk was applied.

[Additional perk, 「Double Return」, will be applied.]

[The 「x2 Effect」 will be applied to everything dropped in the dungeon.]

Ha-Young smiled widely. She could not help but smile.

‘I already get double the reward with the effect from the Touch of the Great Rogue!’

If she got the x2 Effect on top of that, she could get four times as much loot. Four times the value of those gold bars.

Just thinking about it made her dizzy.

Meanwhile, Jin-Hyeok looked at Ha-Young through the Broadcaster’s Truesight. To be precise, he was looking at the Skill she was using.

‘Wow, I can do this too?’ Jin-Hyeok thought.

He saw two invisible hands. They floated around like ghosts and tapped Jin-Hyeok’s chest. Then, his inventory was activated.

‘I can’t believe I can see all of this happening.’

Each of the two hands held a white handkerchief. With them, they quickly and carefully wiped the gold bar.

Soon there was a ‘V’ mark on the gold bars.

[The Skill, 「Touch of the Great Rogue」, is being applied.]

[Progress: 10%]

‘Ah, so this is how her Skill works.’

Jin-Hyeok was once again impressed by the power of his Broadcaster’s Truesight.

Two contradictory emotions ruled his mind. One was telling him how he deserved an overpowered Skill like this, and the other one was telling him that maybe this Skill was too much and that he was glad he turned off the livestream.

His two emotions clashed. It had gotten to the point where he did not know which one to believe anymore.

Earlier, he thought he was going to play aggressively until he retired, but now he was worried that he could not retire if he continued to do that. He needed to be cautious.

His mind was going back and forth.

‘Still, I think the second emotion is the right way to go.’

It seemed that a lot of time had passed and diluted his emotions, but he was reminded once again of the fact that his past life was really tough.

A System notification popped up.

[You have been credited with the First Clear of the Golden Toad Dungeon.]

This was what Jin-Hyeok had expected. By becoming the first to clear the Dungeon, he was granted an additional perk.

[Due to the First Clear, an additional x2 Effect will be applied.]

With the Hidden Achievement and the additional perk, Jin-Hyeok now would receive four times the loot.

Meanwhile, the progress of the Touch of the Great Rogue was over seventy percent. Disabling this Skill at the moment of its completion would be considered a complete Skill failure.

Jin-Hyeok suddenly wondered.

‘If this Skill fails, I am supposed to get twice the loot from the caster, right?’

On top of that, he would get the effect of the Fast Lane of Wealth. In other words, Angel Girl had to pay him x8 for a failed Touch of the Great Rogue.

The progression rate of the Skill was now at ninety-nine percent.

Jin-Hyeok and Ha-Young both thought at the same time.

‘Now!’

‘Now!’

Ha-Young grinned even wider.

‘Stab her!’

‘Steal from him!’

Jin-Hyeok stretched out his dagger and stabbed her in the shoulder.

Stab.

The best way to stop a Thief from stealing was to stab them.

[The Skill, 「Touch of the Great Rogue」, has been neutralized.]

Blood gushed from Ha-Young’s shoulder, and the gold bar that she failed to steal fell to the ground.contemporary romance

1. KakaoTalk is the most widely-used Korean messenger app in Korea. Kind of like WhatsApp. ☜

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