Chapter 109

?Master, next time, clearing all four walls alone will be good content for your stream.?

‘Exactly. Shall we try that? After all, I’m getting insulted by other Hunters for being an attention whore anyway, might as well try it. There’s a saying, if the enemy hates you, give them a reason to hate you. I like that.’

Just then,

Ding.

[You have achieved first place for both Team A and Team B at the same time, for the first time.]

[Your hidden quest rewards are being distributed.]

‘Hidden reward?’

Ji-Cheok expected this from the System. The chat was saying things like ‘The System always takes care of things like this’, and ‘I’m surprised that there are more hidden rewards from the Fortress of Hope’.

A box appeared in front of Ji-Cheok. Ji-Cheok had yet to even touch the box, but viewers were already telling him to open it and reveal what was inside.

[Essence of Hope]

[Class: B+

Type: Essence

An essence created by gathering hope from another world.

Wherever you are, there is always hope.]

When Ji-Cheok opened the box, there was only a lump of light inside, neither solid nor liquid. It was like a sphere made of energy. On the other hand, the description was very brief.

“Uh.. is this an ingredient?”

When Ji-Cheok commented out loud on purpose, the viewers agreed with him, saying that it looked like an ingredient. There were even people looking to see if there were ingredients in a similar category to this one. At that moment.

Swish!

“Huh?”

‘What? Why are you coming out from there?’

The [Guardian’s Hope] shield, placed in the Shadow Pouch, escaped from the shadow and soared into the sky.

‘Hey! Where..’

Schwing!

“What?”

The block of energy called the Essence of Hope and the shield clung to each other before he could do anything.

‘Those two can be fused together?’

While Ji-Cheok was surprised, the shield became wider and thicker. It appeared to be one meter wide and two meters tall. It was the size of a door, basically. It used to be just big enough to cover his face, but now, it could cover his whole body.

‘What in the hell..’

[Guardian of Hope]

[Class: A

Type: Shield (Artifact)

A powerful shield crafted of hope in another world.

Wherever you are, there is always hope.

Function: It is not destroyed unless your morale is broken.

Function: It moves around the user and automatically defends against attacks.

Function: The user and his teammate gain high resistance against negative mental influences.]

As he was watching in amazement, the description of the shield appeared.

‘What? Why is this amazing item coming out from such a shabby place?

?It looks like it is a reward for clearing a hidden quest. However, it seems that it has to be infused into the shield to have any effect.?

‘I think so too.’

?How about hiding the shield function, Master??

‘I agree with you. Because this is directly related to my survival. It’s a bit too much to reveal just for entertainment. Not to mention, if I end this video on a little note of mystery, the viewers will want to watch the next one too.’

“Huh? I beg your pardon? You want to see the function of the shield? Why, of course, it’s.. for next time!”

-Umji, you’re so mean!!!

-Umji!! Just this once! Show us!

-Just give us the ballpark!

“You can think of it as a really really strong defense item~”

-Wow, you’re so annoying, Umji.

-Umji’s the type of person who doesn’t do anything that doesn’t benefit him.

?Does he owe you anything? If you really want to know, just search for it yourself.

‘Hm.. If the chat becomes heated, I should show Cheok-Liang’s belly again.’

At that time, some other rewards were distributed: titles.

[Keeper of the Walls], [Keeper of Life], [Guardian Warrior of Hope], [Pyromaniac]

“Wow.. I got four new titles. Oh wait, it looks like [Guardian of Hope] has been upgraded to [Guardian Warrior of Hope], and [Arsonist] has been upgraded to [Pyromaniac]!”

When he showed the titles to the viewers, the chat went crazy.

‘So, does that mean I got two new titles? [Keeper of the Walls] and [Keeper of Life]. I’ll have to look into these two titles later.’

?Yes, Master. It’s time to go now.?

[You have cleared the dungeon!]

The System message popped up as soon as Cheok-Liang finished talking. Finally, the Portal opened. The battle that had seemed to go on forever was finally over.

“Well then, unfortunately, the live stream ends here!”

The chat was shouting for him to stream longer.

‘But I need some rest too. And I have to find out exactly what I got as a reward. The email too.. I have to look at the reward from ‘That Hunter’.’

* * *

Some time had passed after the live stream, and the Likes had stopped coming in. Now, Ji-Cheok was only getting Likes from the recorded video.

‘I really don’t understand how this works. Right after the stream is over, for a certain period of time, Likes keep coming in. I just don’t know how long that ‘certain period of time’ is.’

?I think that’s up to the System, Master.?

‘Cheok-Liang, that doesn’t sound like you.’

Cheok-Liang was something the System had created. That could be why he was cool as a cucumber. Some Hunters regarded the System itself as a religion. Well, some people also worshiped a rock, so Ji-Cheok wasn’t surprised.

He looked at his phone and saw a text message.

?Hyung, I’m going to the gym.?

Ji-Byeok was considered a huge gym rat, but Mu-Cheok also did a lot of lifting.

‘I mean, in our life, our bodies are also an asset. If you neglect training, your chance of dying will increase.’

Ji-Cheok was a cultivator, so he had to train his body when practicing cultivation. But from the point of view of those who used skills, this was completely stupid. ‘What? What is this old-fashioned training method?’ Normally, no sane Hunter would think of training while walking on electric chains between burning steel balls. What the other Hunters were doing was normal; it was Ji-Cheok’s method that was crazy.

When Ji-Cheok got home, he took off his jacket and other clothes and put them in the equipment locker together with his weapons to wash them, then took a quick shower. He changed into a thin training suit and felt immediately more comfortable. Then, he went straight to the training room. He sat with his legs crossed and immediately started channeling his Qi.

?Koreans seem to work very hard, Master.?

‘They can’t help it. If you want to survive the extreme cold and hot weather in this small land with few resources, you have no choice but to be diligent. A foreigner friend of mine who lived here for a while was a Hunter Assistant during the day and served kebabs in Itaewon at night. In addition to that, he also tutored twice a week. He said he had never worked so hard in his home country, but he had to do everything to survive. I mean, at the very least, he should be able to pay for air conditioning in the summer and heating in winter to survive.’

?I see, Master.?

‘We don’t even have to read self-help books. Everyone is already working to their limit. And with the addition of Dungeons and Awakened abilities, we’ve started to work even harder.’

?Is it because the price of heating and air conditioning skyrocketed??

‘Yes. Back in the day, solar power and wind power were a thing, but after the Gates opened, making use of these eco-friendly energies became impossible. Even some nuclear power plants have been shut down because of the Dungeons. I heard that there were explosions in foreign countries, but in Korea, power plant workers and so many other unknown people sacrificed themselves to stop the explosions. They weren’t famous soccer players, K-pop Idols, presidents, or members of the National Assembly. They were just your next-door neighbor, a girl from your school, and those random people that passed by you on the subway. After all, when the country is in danger, it is always the ordinary people who try to save it. When the world became dark, they sacrificed themselves so that we could see the morning again. Back then, the Awakened were so rare that it was difficult to protect even the shelters.’

This small peninsula survived thanks to these countless and nameless stars. That was life. In movies, everyone ended up pretty and beautiful with a happy ending, but the reality was different. Yet, winter still came after summer, and then summer came back again. There was also no magic that could miraculously lower the electricity bill. Rather, humans ended up inventing revolutionary technology in order to generate electricity in a space that was limited to begin with and was even further restricted due to the appearance of Dungeons.

In the end, everyone spent the majority of their income on heating and cooling, food, and monthly rent. Amid the anxiety of not knowing what they would do after retirement, the chance of owning a house was becoming smaller and smaller, while the entertainment industry became the go-to drug for people. This was the base ideology Hunters had as they risked their lives on GodTube.

Anyone could see a Hunter’s death on GodTube. Of course, they couldn’t actually see the exact moment of death—Ji-Cheok didn’t know how, but the GodTube A.I. always managed to cut right before the scene. But even a monkey could imagine what happened after.

?Everyone has no choice but to work hard.?

‘Exactly. People are already working to the point of dying, but these self-help books are telling them to work harder. That’s why these authors are getting bashed by the public. Still, people want to live a better life, so they open a self-help book...’

Ji-Cheok took a deep breath. He slowly organized his mind, visualizing a clear water surface. After the useless thoughts had been reduced to some extent, he thought of today’s experience as he saw it mirrored in the water. After gaining Qi Sense, he had realized this kind of mental simulation was very helpful for cultivation training. That was why he took time to sit cross-legged. In this state of deep trance, he slowly recalled the things he had done.

‘I didn’t use cultivation skills more than in the previous battle, but my performance was far greater.’

For fighting a crowd of monsters, mana skills were far more powerful than cultivation skills. Also, even though he had indeed used the [Blaze Walk] skill from the [Black Flaming Jacket], relying solely on items would just not cut it. Certainly, from an ordinary Hunter’s point of view, it was powerful enough. But Ji-Cheok wanted more than that, and he had good reasons why he had to become stronger.

He needed a higher level of skill than the [Blaze Walk]. Just as Cheok-Liang said, it was best to acquire high-level skills that increased fire-type attack power and learn something better than [Blaze Walk]. It was also a good idea to find better armor than the [Black Flaming Jacket]. In other words, Ji-Cheok still believed that the best way to fight a crowd of monsters was fire-type skills.

‘I think Yum Ra-Du is going to be very concerned. Oh well. But with that said.. I didn’t know that ‘That Hunter’ would be this interested in me.’

No matter how famous Ji-Cheok was as an aspiring GodTuber, ‘That Hunter’ was one of the most popular stars on GodTube, with one hundred and fifty million subscribers. Their average number of views was anywhere between two and four million, but their most popular video had a whopping three hundred million views and fourteen million Likes. This was the mighty illlllilililllllll!

‘When I keep calling them ‘That Hunter’, I feel like I have to eat jelly beans with all kinds of flavors at Platform 9 and ?.’ historical

In any case, they were always regarded as one of the strongest in the world. There was only one reason why it was hard to say that they were the?best: they didn’t interact with other powerful Hunters at all.

‘The videos ‘That Hunter’ uploaded were never ordinary. They always hunted by themselves. They would go in, cut down monsters like grass, and kill countless boss monsters that you believed would be impossible to kill with skills that you had never seen before. They would curse, curse, then curse some more. I never imagined that this person would be interested in me. Thanks to them, more fans started to watch my stream, just to see ‘That Hunter’.?

The fans just wanted to see what ‘That Hunter’ would write with a one million won donation per comment, even though nobody was sure if that account was real or an impersonation.