I Gave Up Being Stronger

Chapter 468

Bong King and Kang Mi-Na heard a bang from a distance. They noticed it at the same time.

“This is another Spirit Mage losing control of their Spirit, isn’t it?” Bong King said.

“Seems like it,” Mi-Na replied.

Recently, Fire Spirits had been running wild, causing numerous incidents, and this alone had become a major social issue. But this incident wasn’t ordinary.

“Is that a girl?”

“It looks like the girl stopped the Spirit before the Guardian Tree could intervene.”

A new citizen hero seemed to have emerged. They approached to see what kind of ranker this girl could be and began an interview.

“What? You’re Elines? The Elines?”

“You’re Elly?”

The girl who had stopped the Fire Spirit was none other than Elines, the daughter of the Spirit King of Fire. In her human form, Elines had successfully calmed the rampaging Spirit, preventing a significant loss of life.

“Hold on a second. I have something to settle with the Guardian Tree,” Elines said with a grumpy expression. “Hey, Guardian Spirit. You need to be honest with me. You didn’t stop the Spirit on purpose so that you could smash the back of its head, right?”

-“No way! I absolutely, absolutely didn’t do that!”

The Guardian Tree felt wronged. It had indeed considered whether or not to hit the rampaging Spirit, but it had never thought of hurting the civilians.

“Oh, are you saying that you intentionally let the Spirit escalate the situation so that you could create an excuse to attack after all? You had the power to stop it from the start!” Elines shouted.

While the two bickered, Bong King and Mi-Na exchanged glances and nodded. They had just witnessed a rampaging Spirit and its Spirit Mage and a beautiful woman who subdued it. Moreover, this woman was Elines, the daughter of the Spirit King Alkinas and Chul-Soo’s contracted Spirit!

“So, Elines has transformed into a human?” Bong King remarked.

“She transformed from a Spirit to a human! Is that even possible?” Mi-Na said, excitingly.

This was a huge scoop for their channel. They had a gut feeling.

‘This time, we can beat Chul-Soo!’

Chul-Soo’s videos always dominated the top 1 to 5 spots in the list of trending videos. But this time, they were confident they could take the number one spot.

[This just in. Live broadcast at 6 PM today. Stay tuned for a special guest appearance.]

‘We’ve won today!’

If they could surpass Chul-Soo, even just once, they would have earned a great achievement.

Finally, 6 PM had arrived.

***

Bong King and Mi-Na were stunned.

“Something’s odd.”

The number of live viewers on their channel was lower than usual. Even though they were covering such an exciting topic, they had fewer viewers.

“What’s going on?”

Through the chat window, Mi-Na understood what was going on.

“Chul-Soo has started his livestream!”

“But still...”

No matter what, the slower-than-usual influx of viewers was strange.

“Huh? The end of the world?”

“Reset? The Final Abyss? What is Chul-Soo talking about?”

The keywords from Chul-Soo’s livestream were so shocking that even Bong King and Mi-Na wanted to forget their own livestream and tune into Chul-Soo’s. Forgetting to introduce Elines, Mi-Na asked Bong King, “So, is it true?”

“Chul-Soo is saying he needs to level up quickly to stop the Final Abyss. He’s going around other Spirit realms to become the owner and plans to do a continuous livestream until the Final Abyss opens.”

“He’s planning on doing a third-person livestream?”

“It seems so.”

Mi-Na made up her mind. She had to finish her livestream quickly and watch Chul-Soo’s.

‘Continuous third-person livestream is impossible to resist.’

***

Chul-Soo and Marshmallow’s collaboration brought unprecedented results. They had ten billion live viewers. If Wang Yu-Mi hadn’t set a cap on the viewer count, the number would have been much higher. Yu-Mi then made an announcement.

[This is for every Eltuber out there. I grant you the right to broadcast Chul-Soo’s livestream. Please spread the word about what’s going on to as many people as possible.]

Numerous Eltubers began streaming Chul-Soo’s livestream. The content itself was so shocking that each Eltuber’s audience grew significantly. News of the end of the world and the Final Abyss spread rapidly. It became the biggest topic in the universe.

Marshmallow’s heart raced. ‘So, this is the power of Chul-Soo’s viewers?’

The chat was moving so fast that it was impossible to keep up. Even for Marshmallow, this was a first. ‘I’ve lost...’

Though this was technically a collaboration livestream, today’s star was Chul-Soo. Marshmallow realized that breaking today’s record would require immense effort.

‘Can I even break this record if I try my hardest?’ In less than thirty minutes of starting the livestream, they had amassed ten billion viewers. ‘If you include the viewers of the Eltubers broadcasting this across the universe..., the number is exponentially higher.’

Marshmallow trembled. A daunting wall appeared before him. It felt like no amount of effort could break this record.

‘Plus, the viewers of those Eltubers are also being counted as Chul-Soo’s.’

This was Yu-Mi’s ability. As a Storyteller, she limited her livestream’s viewers to ten billion but used a Skill called Shadow Broadcast, enabling Chul-Soo to receive experience points from all the Eltubers broadcasting his content.

Various online communities were on fire.

-This is just a publicity stunt, right? What kind of nonsense is this about the end of the world? LOL!

-You still believe these Eltubers’ stunts?

Some people didn’t believe Chul-Soo.

-Chul-Soo has never lied in his livestream.

-Even if it’s just clickbait, it always turns out to be true.

Others thought they should prepare for the end of the world.

-But isn’t all of this because of Chul-Soo?

-Wouldn’t things be fine if Chul-Soo just disappeared?

Some people even suggested that Chul-Soo was responsible for the end of the world. News of the impending doom spread quickly, plunging the universe into extreme chaos. While the Server where the Guardian Tree resided was relatively stable, riots and looting broke out on other Servers. One livestream had thrown the entire universe into disorder.

***

Kim Min-Ji, who had become a small universe herself, could sense everything happening in the world. Most things didn’t concern her, but a few particularly irritated her.

‘Some of them think that it’s all because of Chul-Soo.’ She wanted to speak up. ‘No, it was predetermined from the beginning.’

If it hadn’t been Chul-Soo, someone else would have become the overpowered hero. The will of this world—or rather, the will of the God—would have found a way to open the Final Abyss regardless. It just so happened that this time, it was tied to Chul-Soo.

-Wouldn’t it be better to just kill Chul-Soo?

-For the peace of the universe, isn’t that the rational thing to do?

‘No! It’s not!!!’ Min-Ji wanted to scream. However, she desperately calmed herself. ‘I need to stay calm.’

The more she got agitated, the faster the Final Abyss would open. She had to keep her emotions in check, making sure they didn’t explode.

Several groups had already begun organizing assassination squads, planning to take down Chul-Soo.

‘Fools!’

Min-Ji knew just how strong Chul-Soo was. Still, she couldn’t help but worry about him. It was like how one knew a horror movie couldn’t harm them, yet they still felt scared while watching it. Even knowing nothing could hurt Chul-Soo, she was naturally scared for him. The more affection she had for him, the greater that fear became.

‘Chul-Soo needs to find me...’

She needed to find him and communicate with him. She had to find a way.

***

The news about the Final Abyss sent the universe into chaos, and as a result, the Seoul Guardian Tree became incredibly stressed.

-“Ah, it’s just so difficult!”

“What’s so difficult?” asked Elines, who was sitting on one of the tree’s branches.

-“Not killing them while smacking them on the back of the head.”

“Whose head do you want to smack?

-“Those stupid assassination squad guys!”

The number of lunatics rushing in to kill Chul-Soo was more than expected. They weren’t top-tier rankers, mostly low-Level nobodies, which made things even harder for the Guardian Tree. If it made a mistake in controlling its strength, it could end up killing them.

“Just kill them,” Elines said with a bright smile.

-“But Master doesn’t like killing people.”

“Still, if they’re trying to kill someone, they deserve to die, don’t they?

-“Tsk, tsk, Elines. You don’t understand anything. Master has started learning about human emotions.”

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

-“R-Romantic feelings?”

The Guardian Tree’s leaves turned pink.

-“Ahem, in that case, I might have some thoughts too.”

***

The Emperor of the Swedeen Empire, Kyle, had dispatched the Sword Emperor Unit in a rush. Kyle himself led the squad to Seoul.

Sensing the subtle tension, Cha Jin-Hyeok asked with a hint of curiosity, “Your Majesty, are you here to assassinate me by any chance?”

“Is that supposed to be a joke?”

“Then why did you bring the Sword Emperor Unit?”

“To protect you, of course.”

Kyle knew that Chul-Soo was far stronger than he was. However, this was essentially a state of war. Many people were not in their right minds, calling Chul-Soo the seed of destruction and blaming him. On top of that, the continuous livestreams had definitely left Chul-Soo mentally and physically drained. With Assassins and death squads from across the universe converging on him, Kyle felt it was his duty to protect his friend, Jin-Hyeok.

“Don’t worry about me,” Jin-Hyeok said. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“This isn’t just a matter of worry.”

Kyle was also preparing for when the Final Abyss would open. If that happened, Chul-Soo would be the only one in the world who could stop it. So, it was vital to help Chul-Soo remain as calm and well-rested as possible to keep him in peak condition.

“I’ve come to understand human emotions a bit myself. I can think much more rationally than others now,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m not killing the Assassins. The Guardian Tree is working hard to control its strength.”

While it would have been convenient for the Guardian Tree to accidentally kill a few Players while pretending it was a mistake, the Guardian Tree had avoided doing such things.

“That’s good. It will help conserve stamina, and it might also keep the assassination squads from getting too provoked. A very smart choice,” Kyle said.

Jin-Hyeok suddenly realized that they weren’t exactly talking about the same thing. “Wait, are you saying you’re here to protect...me, not the Assassins...?”

“...”

“Do you think I’m weak?”

“...”

An awkward silence filled the air between them.

“Your Majesty, I’m Level 650.”

At that moment, Kyle reflexively drew his sword. It was an unconscious reaction, triggered by the explosive killing intent that had flared up.

“Ah!” Kyle had unconsciously pierced through Jin-Hyeok with his sword. “What... what am I doing?!”

Kyle quickly regained his composure.

“Bring me a Chul-Soo Potion right now! Get a Chul-Soo Potion here!” he shouted.

“It’s not necessary.”

“B-But the sword definitely pierced you...!” Kyle looked at Jin-Hyeok with a bewildered expression. His sword had pierced straight through Jin-Hyeok’s chest, but Jin-Hyeok calmly pulled the sword out of his body. As he did, the blade of the sword melted away.

“Is this a new ability of Absolute Barrier?” Kyle asked.

“I didn’t use Absolute Barrier.”

“Then what just happened?”

“I just took the attack with my body.”

“So, it wasn’t Absolute Barrier?” Kyle could not believe it. No matter how powerful Jin-Hyeok was, taking a strike from the Emperor of the Swedeen Empire without using any defenses was not possible. “Do not lie to me. Are you angry because I underestimated you?”

Jin-Hyeok didn’t respond to the question and continued, “I will show you the current power of my Absolute Barrier.”

Boom!

With a deafening sound, Kyle was sent flying through the air. Since it was a livestream, Jin-Hyeok casually made a comment to the viewers. “Extremely advanced defense can be hard to distinguish from offense.”

“Ugh!” Barely managing to stand, Kyle immediately realized, ‘He is definitely mad.’