I Gave Up Being Stronger

Just as one of the guards thrust his spear at Liling, a distinct change occurred in Cha Jin-Hyeok’s mind, as if something had snapped. It was the first time he had ever lost his reason like this.

“Stop, you bastards!” Jin-Hyeok took the shortest path possible to Liling, without thinking about the production or his performance.

[You have activated the Skill ⌜Thief’s Step⌟.]

Before coming to the Arvis Server, he had judged that agile movement was more important than direct combat. Thus, he had acquired one of Song Ha-Young’s skills, Thief’s Step, by using Imitation.

Before long, Jin-Hyeok had positioned himself in front of Liling.

Clang!

The guard’s spear clashed with Miri. After deflecting the spear with his hammer, Jin-Hyeok quickly closed the distance between him and the guard. The guard hurriedly retrieved his spear and swung again.

However, the spear only cut through the air. The guard’s eyes widened in shock, and he thought, ‘This bastard, wasn’t his last confirmed Level around 205?’

The guard remembered Chul-Soo had some strange effect that added twenty Levels, making his Level around 225. Even if the guard assumed Chul-Soo had leveled up in Arvis, surpassing 230 would have been difficult for him. In contrast, the guard’s Level was 253.

Once a Player surpassed Level 250, each Level difference became significantly more pronounced. Levels 250 and 251 were vastly different in power, as were 252 and 253. Therefore, a tremendous gap would exist between a Level 225 Player and a Level 253 Player, which made differences in Job, stats, and Skills irrelevant.

The guard quickly assessed the situation. ‘He lied about his Level!’

Jin-Hyeok immediately charged at the guard. With a single clash, he realized the guard’s attack pattern was very simple; the guard either stabbed or swung horizontally. The insane Jin-Hyeok instinctively murmured, “His preparatory movements are clearly visible, making the trajectory of his attacks easy to predict.”

[You have activated the Skill ⌜Thief’s Step⌟.]

Using Thief's Step to lighten himself, Jin-Hyeok approached the guard and ducked.

Whoosh!

The spear grazed the top of Jin-Hyeok’s head as he passed by. In that state, Jin-Hyeok leaped. The top of his head made contact with the guard’s chin.

Crack!

It sounded like something had broken. Jin-Hyeok was still in a state of lost reason. “It seems I have succeeded in breaking his jaw.”

The guard screamed, twisted around, and collapsed.

Captain Kidibon frowned. ‘Such a disgraceful attack.’

Perhaps it was because Chul-Soo was from an uncivilized Server, there was no dignity in his attack. Headbutting while holding a weapon just seemed strange.

“He must have Swindler as a secondary Job! He is definitely lying about his actual Level and Job!” Kidibon said.

Everyone tensed up a bit more. The unhinged Jin-Hyeok swung Miri even more fiercely.

***

In the past, as a knight-errant, Kidibon had made a name for himself despite being born a second-class citizen. Rising from a second-class to a first-class citizen in Arvis was a feat more difficult than plucking stars from the sky. Yet, Kidibon had accomplished this challenging feat, and it was thanks to Lady Harkoen.

“Your skin’s regenerative ability is quite useful.”

Lady Harkoen had said she needed a lot of fresh, highly regenerative skin.

“My collections are sensitive and prone to scratches.”

In exchange for his skin, Kidibon had received the position of the captain of the guard. Afterward, he earned the nickname, Skeleton Swordsman, and was able to live as a proud first-class citizen.

‘I can’t just stand idly by.’

Lady Harkoen was involved in this matter, and she was one of the top noblewomen among the first-class citizens.

‘If things go wrong…’

He would be demoted back to a second-class citizen. The privileges he enjoyed as a first-class citizen would no longer be guaranteed.

“Chul-Soo’s Level is at least above 250! Everyone, back off,” Kidibon said. It did not matter how powerful a Player’s stats and abilities were. Once they were past Level 250, which was considered the high-Level range, a difference of more than 10 Levels made those stats meaningless. “I am going to handle him myself.”

The Skeleton Swordsman Kidibon drew his sword. He aimed his sharp sword, which was made of bone, at Jin-Hyeok.

Jin-Hyeok did not give Kidibon any time to prepare. “I am going to smash your head.”

Kidibon felt something odd in Jin-Hyeok’s voice. ‘A woman’s voice?’

To be more precise, it seemed like he had heard two voices at the same time. Kidibon knew well this was not an illusion. When the will of a weapon and its wielder were perfectly aligned, the voices of the weapon and the wielder could merge and be conveyed together. This phenomenon usually appeared at the peak of what was called the Unity of Spirit and Sword.

‘How is he so fast?’

Even though Chul-Soo was a Player who used a blunt weapon, his footwork resembled that of a Thief.

‘I can’t see where his weapon is attacking.’

A silver radiance burst from Miri. It resembled the power of lightning magic, with silver lightning flickering around the weapon. This caused a slight optical illusion.

‘It’s so disorienting!’

Kidibon found it hard to predict where and how the attacks would come.

‘First, I need to create a distance to dodg—’

However, he could not dodge. One step ahead of the guard captain, Jin-Hyeok swung Miri.

Thwack!

“Ugh!” With a short scream, the Skeleton Swordsman Kidibon staggered back several steps. He looked down at his chest. Cracks began to form on the silver armor covering his chest.

He gulped. ‘If it weren’t for the armor…’

His ribs would have been shattered. It seemed he had misjudged the power of Chul-Soo. “His Level is… in the 260s…”

***

Jin-Hyeok, still devoid of his reason, muttered, “I will not let anyone mess with my small and precious Chul-Soo Lander.”

He shattered Kidibon’s skull, and the bright light in the captain’s eyes gradually faded.

“Do not be deceived! His Level is… in the 270s!”

In the end, the Skeleton Swordsman Kidibon died on the spot due to a blow to the back of his head. His subordinates, who seemed to hold him in high regard, glared at their opponent with bloodshot eyes.

“His Level is in the 270s! Request support from the Special Guard Forces and set up a defensive stance to block his movements! He cannot get away.”

They no longer attempted to fight Jin-Hyeok directly. If they were set on a defensive stance, they could hold out to some extent. One of the guards blew a large horn.

Bwoo!

It was a horn to request support. Around that time, Jin-Hyeok began to regain his senses a little. ‘I wasn’t professional.’

He was a Streamer. As a Streamer, he had to thoroughly consider the livestream and think about his production, no matter what came his way.

‘I wasn’t being a Streamer just now!’

Though he kept commenting while fighting, he did not remember what he had said. However, he did not feel like that was necessarily a bad thing. The sight of Liling still lying down with a dark hole in her stomach made his blood boil.

‘Even though he was just a small-town guard captain, I have just killed a first-class citizen of the Arvis Server.’

Arvis was a Server that earnestly protected its citizens and was merciless toward the misdeeds of Players from other Servers.

‘In the worst-case scenario, I should consider escaping from here.’

Initially, Jin-Hyeok thought escaping would be difficult due to the Level gap between him and the guards. However, having fought them, it seemed easier than he thought. It probably was because the Server had grown complacent in peace.

“These guards are Level Grinders. They are weaker than I thought. I have never seen such Level Grinders before.” Jin-Hyeok provoked the guards.

“You little…!”

“Should I just kill them all?” Jin-Hyeok smirked.

The guards, sensing a momentary bloodlust, tensed up. “Everyone be careful!”

“That’s the bloodlust of a Level 270 Player!”

The only calm person here was the lowest-level Player, Jin-Hyeok, who was also a Streamer. “I will put up a poll to see what the viewers think.”

‘Ah, wait, I’m not livestreaming right now.’

He realized that official livestreaming and recording were only possible from 00:00 of the next day. He felt a profound emptiness.

‘No, this isn’t the time for me to feel this way.’

If he were obsessed with livestreaming, he would only think about the livestream, but something was more important than livestreaming right now. Liling, a member of Chul-Soo Land, had sustained serious injuries. He needed to check on her condition.

“Do not move!”

“Stop!”

As the tensed-up guards pointed their spears at Jin-Hyeok, a familiar voice rang out.

“What the hell is going on?!”

Jin-Hyeok could see a head that looked like a marshmallow. It wasn’t a hat, but hair. Marshmallow, who was a ranker in Arvis and famously known throughout the universe, had arrived at the scene.

“Hey, you idiots! Don’t you know about the Streamer Protection Treaty?” Visibly angry, Marshmallow came running into the room. Like pudding or jelly, the marshmallow-shaped head bounded and wobbled. “Do you think it’s right to gang up and bully someone, especially a low-level, fragile Streamer?”

The guards somehow felt greatly wronged.

***

Swampland No.1 screamed in pain, clutching his eyes. ‘Chul-Soo, you bastard…!’

Chul-Soo’s adaptability was indeed beyond imagination. As soon as he realized the existence of a Control Bug, he immediately tried to use his Taming (Physical) Skill to wrest control of the Control Bug.

Swampland No.1 had tried to complete the unfinished black hole in a hurry, but Chul-Soo was much faster than anticipated. Swampland No.1 realized it was a mistake to think he had gathered enough data on Chul-Soo through the sacrifices of Swampland No.3 and No.2

‘He was hiding his power!’

After his connection with the Control Bug was severed, Swampland No.1 could no longer spy on what was going on inside that hotel room.

‘Still, with Skeleton Swordsman Kidibon, capturing Chul-Soo should be manageable!’

Swampland No.1 waited at the designated meeting place. It would be easy to hunt Chul-Soo down once they severed all his tendons and brought him in.

‘But why aren’t they coming?’

During this, his phone started to ring. It was a livestream notification from Marshmallow, the only Streamer he had set an alarm for. Despite the crucial moment, he could not ignore his livestream.

[Teaching Chul-Soo a Lesson]

Swampland No.1 quickly checked his phone. Chul-Soo was caught on the screen.

‘What in the…’

It seemed that a considerable number of users had found out about Chul-Soo through Marshmallow for the first time.

-What? Who is this divinely handsome guy?

-I’ve never seen someone this handsome!

-You don’t know who that is? That’s Kim Chul-Soo.

-He is a rising rookie from a new Server, Earth.

-What’s handsome about him? Looks gay, lol.

-Does anyone know his Enstagram username?

On the screen, Chul-Soo frowned at Marshmallow. Marshmallow’s fans cursed Chul-Soo for being rude, while others praised him for being cute(?).

With Marshmallow’s appearance, Jin-Hyeok’s mind became cluttered. ‘Could this have been Marshmallow’s doing?’

After all, it was Marshmallow who had helped him come to Arvis. He had provided such a big help without asking for anything in return. Moreover, this small town was several warp portals away from where Marshmallow usually livestreamed. There were too many suspicious points.

‘Is he trying to eliminate me, a potential future competitor?’

“Hey, hey. I’m an SVIP member of KimKnowItAllTV!”

That moment snapped Jin-Hyeok back to reality. ‘...Ah!’

He had not considered the possibility that some people in the world loved him without any reason, just like Chul-Soo Landers.

‘Marshmallow is also a Chul-Soo Lander!’

Although it was unexpected, it seemed far more plausible than Marshmallow trying to eliminate him.

‘I see it now…’

Jin-Hyeok felt a bit disappointed in himself. He had not been professional again.

‘Why would someone like Marshmallow consider me as a competitor? I’ve still got a long way to go.’

“Wait, but it looks like you were the one doing the beating.” Marshmallow frowned. He had a keen sense of reading the situation. “I thought you were being bullied at first, but it turns out you were the one doing the bullying. With that shiny hammer.”

“...”

“I thought you were a Streamer.”

“I am.”

“...Look at the guards’ expressions.”

The guards looked incredulous. They seemed to want to say something along the lines of ‘You’re not a Streamer! You’re a blunt weapon user and a con artist hiding your true power!’

Marshmallow smirked. “I came here to discipline a junior Streamer, but it seems I have got the timing all wrong. There’s even a corpse over there.”

Jin-Hyeok explained what had happened here and requested that a Healer be called. Fortunately, Marshmallow’s manager was a Healer and hurriedly came to treat Liling. Although the manager was not a professional Healer, he had learned enough to manage Marshmallow’s stamina, so it wasn’t that hard for him to treat Liling.

The manager wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, “She will wake up in a few days.”

The guards whispered among themselves.

“The Special Guard Forces will be storming in soon.”

“And he will be arrested for the murder of a first-class citizen.”

Soon, that statement became reality.