I Gave Up Being Stronger

Chapter 469

As assassination squads resolved to kill Kim Chul-Soo to prevent the world from ending, a major issue surfaced among Chul-Soo Landers that was comparable to the threat of world destruction.

This issue arose when BongMiNaTV’s livestream showed Elines’s conversation with the Guardian Tree.

“Human emotions... Do you think that includes, you know, romantic feelings?”

A tense atmosphere settled over Chul-Soopia, which was usually filled with lively conversations.

[No.3: I didn’t expect Elly to have those kinds of feelings for Chul-Soo.]

Even Cha Jin-Sol, Chul-Soo Land No.3, was starting to take things more seriously. It didn’t matter to her who her brother dated. But he wasn’t just her brother, he was Kim Chul-Soo. For Chul-Soo Landers, this was an issue far more severe than the end of the world.

[No.1000: Ah, this is... a bit much...]

Marshmallow, Chul-Soo Land No.1000, instantly sensed the gravity of the situation.

“Elines is going to get a lot of hate for this,” he said. The only saving grace was that Elines wasn’t an official member of the Chul-Soo Land. Had an official member said something like that, the situation would have been much more serious.

[No.2: Fellow Chul-Soo Landers, let’s not forget that Elly is still a young Spirit. And remember, she’s not even an official Chul-Soo Lander.]

No.2, Kang Eun-Woo, stepped in to defend Elines. However, calming the angry members seemed difficult.

[No.777: If she were an official member, I would have killed her myself. ^^]

Kim Ysael—Chul-Soo Land No.777, who had abandoned the Victor Family and taken the surname Kim to follow Chul-Soo—burned with fierce hostility toward Elines. She had given up on a trillion Dias to follow Chul-Soo.

As Chul-Soopia buzzed with Elines’s offensive remarks, a few Chul-Soo Landers noticed something unusual.

[No.2: By the way, I don’t see No.1 today. ^^]

Eun-Woo felt a surge of victory. Such a hot topic was stirring up Chul-Soopia, yet No.1 had not shown up. It almost seemed like No.1 was unworthy of the title.

[No.3: Now that I think of it, I haven’t seen No.1 in days.]

[No.777: Can she still call herself No.1? Maybe she should give up the title.]

[Honorary No.1: I’m right here!]

Honorary Chul-Soo Land No.1, Lessefim, made her presence known, though she too sensed that something was off. ‘Why isn’t No.1 showing up?’

Given the magnitude of the current situation, No.1 should have appeared by now, enraged beyond measure.

[No.777: No one is foolish enough to dream about monopolizing Chul-Soo, right? If anyone’s thinking that, tell me now. I will hunt them down to the ends of the universe with honorary Chul-Soo Land No.1 and take them out.♡]

***

Kim Min-Ji’s attention was entirely focused on the Earth Server. She, too, had heard what Elines had said.

‘She’s still a young Spirit,’ Min-Ji thought. Nevertheless, anger boiled within her. It was hard for her to control her emotions. This was inevitable for her, given her fanatical obsession. Just as it was natural for humans to breathe and eat, it was natural for the Mad God of Favoritism to display obsessive favoritism.

‘But her body is that of an adult woman.’ By Spirit standards, Elines was young, but by human standards, she was ancient. ‘I need to hold it together... Breathe, Min-Ji, breathe...’

She had to endure for now. The more her mind wavered, the faster the Final Abyss would emerge.

‘I must endure for Chul-Soo. For the world Chul-Soo will live in...’ With that thought, Min-Ji was able to suppress her anger. ‘It won’t go as your will intends, Mother.’

The will of the world was calling out to her, urging her to become the Final Abyss and reset the world, as commanded by her mother.

‘But I’m also going through puberty! This is so hard!’

She resolved to hold on as long as she could. In Min-Ji’s eyes, Chul-Soo’s decision to level up was the right one. That was the only way he would be able to break her into fragments.

‘Just a little longer.’

Thanks to Elines’s foolish remarks, some Chul-Soo Landers had begun to sense something strange. Perhaps there was a glimmer of hope for resolution.

‘Elines, you’ve seen my corruption. Please, help Chul-Soo.’

With a fragile mind that seemed on the verge of collapsing, she resolved to endure just a little more.

***

Jin-Hyeok’s livestream consistently maintained a viewership of ten billion. Even when he streamed while sleeping, the number never dropped.

-How is no one leaving the livestream? T_T

-I’m trying to get in for 18 hours... T_T

-Same, I waited that long too. T_T

-How do you even get into the main livestream? T_T

The main livestream they were talking about was the one shown on Wang Yu-Mi’s channel, a place where the odds of directly communicating with Chul-Soo were one in ten billion.

-All Chul-Soo Landers across the universe are waiting too. It’s going to be hard to get in.

-Oh? Someone is trying to sell an account that’s currently in the main livestream. They’re asking for 1.6 billion Dias.

-LOL! That’s ridiculous. Who would buy that?

Surprisingly, the account was sold in an instant. The first transaction was for 1.6 billion, the next for 1.8 billion, and the third one for 2 billion. Since these accounts were rare, their prices skyrocketed.

-Wow... People are really buying those accounts...

-There are some truly insane people out there.

-You can just go to a secondary livestream. Why are they doing this? Does anyone understand that they’re practically livestreaming the same thing?

-No one asked you to understand. ^^

-For them, that kind of money is meaningless. Their world is different, so stop pretending you know better.

-Stfu! I just asked if anyone could understand, and now you’re picking a fight? Get a life, loser.

-That’s a classic keyboard warrior tantrum.

-You should get a life too. T_T

Lessefim and Mole Woman, who had resolved to become more intense, put their heads together and began to strategize.

“Hmmm... Do you think we can find the Final Abyss, moly?”

“If you and I team up, I feel like we could.”

While others believed the Final Abyss would open in the near future, these two thought differently. They were considering entering the Final Abyss before anyone else.

“It seems like the best way is to search the Earth Server, moly.”

“I think so too.”

Since the Final Abyss was connected to Chul-Soo, Earth could have clues related to it.

“We should consult Min-Ji too, moly.”

“When you say Min-Ji, you mean...”

“Yeah. I’m talking about the mysterious Chul-Soo Land No.1, whom even the Trinity Club members bow down to, moly.”

“Oh, that’s who she is? The genius hacker?”

Mole Woman gave Lessefim a slightly condescending look. “Maybe that’s the difference between official Chul-Soo Landers and honorary ones...”

“What did you just say?”

“Nothing, moly. We need to find Min-Ji first, honorary moly.”

“Why honorary moly all of a sudden?”

“Don’t mind my trivial way of talking, honorary moly, moly moly, honorary moly.”

Lessefim, the honorary Chul-Soo Lander, was slightly annoyed.

Mole Woman twisted her hair as she continued, “Using a woman’s sharp intuition, I would guess Min-Ji knows something, moly.”

“Like you were a real woman to begin with...”

Nevertheless, the two headed to Choi Gap-Soo’s workshop.

Even Gap-Soo didn’t know where Min-Ji was. “Well..., she always comes and goes without a trace.”

“Isn’t she always here, sitting and watching the livestream, moly?”

“Normally, yes.”

Gap-Soo’s workshop was the best place to enjoy Chul-Soo’s livestreams, with its top-notch audio and video equipment.

Mole Woman’s expression grew serious. “This is an emergency, moly. Chul-Soo is running a 24-hour livestream, but Chul-Soo Land No.1 is nowhere to be seen.”

At first, Mole Woman had thought it was a simple neglect of duty. She believed that No.1 was slacking, but now it seemed like something bigger was at play.

“We need to track down Min-Ji, moly.”

“I agree,” Gap-Soo replied.

After some inquiries, they found that the last people to see Min-Ji were Gap-Soo, Michelle, and Elines.

“I’m afraid I don’t know where she is.”

“Sorry, I don’t know either.”

Gap-Soo and Michelle didn’t have any useful information. The only one left was Elines, who shared something peculiar.

“I thought I was just being paranoid, so I didn’t say anything. But something was odd about Min-Ji,” Elines said.

“Just tell us anything you’ve got, moly,” Mole Woman said, her voice tinged with frustration. Though she wanted to be nicer to Elines, it was hard for her to speak kindly after Elines’s romantic feelings remark.

Fortunately, Elines didn’t seem to notice Mole Woman’s slight annoyance.

“Well, Min-Ji felt kind of like... a Fire Monster,” Elines replied.

“A Fire Monster? You mean the devouring fire in the Spirit Realm, moly?”

“Yes. Fire that consumes fire. A distorted existence. It’s hard to describe, but that was the feeling I got. Like something was swallowing everything up... like corruption.”

Lessefim asked a critical question. “Exactly when did you meet Min-Ji? Could you give me the timelines?”

***

After they finished the conversation with Elines, the pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place in Lessefim’s mind.

“Min-Ji knows everything about Chul-Soo. She’s so obsessed with him; it’s almost like stalking,” Lessefim said. Min-Ji would have known about Elines’s outrageous comment as well. “Mole Woman, you realize that you weren’t exactly kind when you talked to Elines, right?”

“Ahem, was it that obvious, moly?”

“Then what about No.1?”

No.1 was, without a doubt, obsessed with Chul-Soo.

“She would have been even more upset, right, moly?”

If they observed the timeline, after Elines made her inappropriate remark, Min-Ji had disappeared. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

“Do you think that’s a coincidence?” Lessefim asked.

“We need to find Min-Ji, moly.”

“Do you think we can find her?”

“Don’t you remember what Chul-Soo taught us? He said that with enough intensity, anything is possible, moly. Or have you already forgotten his teachings, moly?”

The two of them shared this information with Jin-Hyeok.

After hearing their story, Jin-Hyeok sensed something immediately. ‘Min-Ji is definitely connected to the Final Abyss.’

“Lessefim, Mole Woman, I need you to find Min-Ji,” he said.

Realizing they might not be able to do it alone, he asked help from the K-Force, a group made up of Earth’s top rankers, each armed with unparalleled intensity. These Players joined Lessefim and Mole Woman’s party.

Meanwhile, Jin-Hyeok returned to Gap-Soo’s workshop.

“Hmm, it might be best not to be seen with Elines for a while, Chul-Soo,” Gap-Soo said.

“I understand that, but the situation is urgent. I have no choice.”

Jin-Hyeok also felt that Elines’s clumsy attempt at a seduction technique was a mistake. If she wanted to use such a strategy, she should have been more discreet and subtle; doing it so blatantly only reduced its effectiveness. He made a mental note to ask Lilia, the Succubus, to give her some training.

However, that was a minor issue. Since Elines was the one who had noticed something strange about Min-Ji, it made sense for her to be here at the place of the incident.

“Elly, you’re sure this is where Min-Ji disappeared?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“Yes... that’s right.” Elines, now aware of the recent development regarding her, meekly said, “I wasn’t trying to monopolize you, Chul-Soo. I just wanted to get married... I’m sorry.”

Jin-Hyeok secretly let out a sigh of relief. ‘Good thing this is a delayed livestream’

He was sure that Yu-Mi and Kang Chul would take care of filtering out such comments from Elines.

At that moment, something caught Jin-Hyeok’s eyes.

‘A crack?’

A sudden fissure appeared in the previously calm space. It was a faint crack, visible only to Jin-Hyeok.