I Gave Up Being Stronger

Chapter 29

Joseph did not return to the United States. He had to somehow make contact with Cha Jin-Hyeok, also known as Kim Chul-Soo. His instinct as a Star Maker had kicked in.

‘Chul-Soo was born to become a star!’

Joseph was in the midst of closely monitoring all of Chul-Soo’s livestream and videos in order to grasp him more precisely. Chul-Soo's party seemed to be using the Deceiver’s Masks, and the faces of his entire party members had changed as the livestream continued.

The livestream was in first-person perspective, as usual, and Joseph was looking at Kim Jeong-Hyeon’s expression and listening to his words. Although his face had changed due to the mask, Joseph had no trouble deducing which one was Jeong-Hyeon.

“Do you think… we can get out of here alive?”

‘That guy is definitely not acting.’

Even Egan Paul occasionally staged dramatic performances. However, in many cases, the performances usually relied on the seamless storyline, with the Players’ flawless acting serving as the foundation. In order to deliver a proper show, they even scouted and hired acting coaches from Hollywood.

Joseph prided himself on his keen eye and was able to easily perceive from Jeong-Hyeon’s words that he was indeed not acting.

The System Streaming Platform, or SSP, was astounding.

‘It just looks so real from the first-person perspective.’

Just before descending to the first floor, the Golden Golem almost hit Chul-Soo’s face.

“Ow!”

Even Joseph, who was watching the livestream, closed his eyes out of fear. Every situation seemed to be happening right in front of him and the tension was something worse.

Joseph gulped.

‘There is no way this is going according to Chul-Soo’s plan.’

No one in their right mind would deliberately plan something like this. No one would dare to risk their lives for such an act. If there were, they had to be insane. The livestream was as raw and unrefined as it got. There was something about his livestream that stimulated the viewers' nerves.

Due to the overpowering presence of the Golden Golem, Chul-Soo’s party members were in a great predicament.

‘Chul-Soo must be deeply agonizing right now.’

Of course, that was Joseph’s misconception.

When Jeong-Hyeon asked if they were going to make it out of here alive, Jin-Hyeok sighed in his mind.

‘You too, Jeong-Hyeon? I trusted you.’

Jin-Hyeok sighed as he saw the despair on Jeong-Hyeon’s face. His teammate, Jeong-Hyeon, was supposed to be a man with a very strong mentality.

‘No, let’s not get so frustrated. This is not the same Jeong-Hyeon that I used to know.’

His instincts and reason kept clashing, and he had to control himself.

“Of course, we are going to survive. When you went up to the second floor, didn’t you feel anything strange?” Jin-Hyeok said.

“Something… strange?”

“I didn’t see any weak points on the Golden Golem.”

The Brass Golem and the Bronze Golem, which were lesser monsters of the Golden Golem, had glowing Mana Stones on their chests. However, the Golden Golem had none.

“Perhaps the Core is hidden somewhere else.”

The Core was indeed hidden somewhere else.

“Maybe we can find a clue on the first floor.”

The clue was definitely on the first floor. Jin-Hyeok realized that back when he first walked into the Dungeon. The staircase leading to the second floor split into two, and at the central point where the staircase split, the large statue of the Golden Golem that was there stood out to Jin-Hyeok from the very beginning.

“There is a statue in front of the stairs. Don’t you think that’s suspicious?”

This was a hunch that came with experience. He did not have the Skills of a navigator or an explorer, but he already knew from experience that the statue was suspicious. However, the rest of the team did not have that experience.

“Suspicious…?”

“What’s so suspicious about a statue?”

Everyone’s eyes shifted to the statue. They could not figure out why it was suspicious.

Jin-Hyeok thought to himself, ‘I should lower my standards even more,’ as he opened his mouth, “Let’s take a look at the statue.”

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Jin-Hyeok poked the statue.

‘It’s sturdier than I thought.’

The statue’s defense stats seemed to be similar to, or even greater than, that of the Golden Golem.

“It will be hard to break it with normal attacks.”

The party’s faces darkened at his words.

‘Guys… How can your emotions drastically change from one sentence?’

Not a single one of them dared to hit it. Jin-Hyeok felt bad that they were so intimidated by his words. Still, he thought it looked pretty good for his livestream, so he didn’t say anything.

“Let’s figure out a way.”

There were ways to break it. It just took some time, but they could break it by just hitting it.

‘We just have to cut along the grain.’

All objects had grain. It was not scientifically proven, but it was a special line that some swordsmen could see. If they cut along that line, they would cut through anything, no matter how hard it was.0

For the record, Jin-Hyeok could vaguely see the lines.

‘I can’t see it as well as I used to.’

When he was a Sword King, he could see it very clearly. He even had a grain-finding Skill. He could not see it that well now, but he could still sense it. Back in his previous life, all he did was kill monsters, so he had all those memories and experiences.

‘I want to buy a longsword from the Broadcaster’s Shop and cut things.’

He wanted to slash like crazy.

‘But I need to restrain myself.’

He felt like if he crossed that line, there was no turning back. Also, he thought he should not be too active on the livestream.

‘My livestream concept is about the growth of underdogs.’

The concept shouldn’t be messed with.

“Jae-Hyeon, you have the Planting Skill, right?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Let’s use it.”

“Right here? How?”

“Uh… Plant a seed right here. Make sure the roots go as deep as possible.”

The expression on Jae-Hyeon’s face was one that was full of doubt, but as usual, he listened to Jin-Hyeok’s orders.

“No, you idiot. You gotta put a little heart in your touch.”

“...heart?”

Just mindlessly using a Skill and putting one’s heart and soul into it were two very different things. Even if a Player had the same Skill, the result would be very different depending on who used it and how.

“Yes. I need you to imagine and visualize it more vividly and concretely,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“Uh… what do I need to imagine?”

“Something with really thick roots, big and strong. And think about a plant with roots that digs really deep.”

This was the basics of using a Skill. The caster had to focus their mind to materialize an image. The more specific the image, the more powerful the Skill.

“I… I will try my best.”

Jae-Hyeon gritted his teeth and tried his best—for over two hours.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Still, Jae-Hyeon did pretty well after Jin-Hyeok taught him. There were dozens of small trees growing on the statue. They looked small, but their roots grew deep. Seo Ji-Soo looked at the statue and realized something.

“Come to think of it… there was a time when our apartment’s basement had a water leakage problem. The handyman said it was because of tree roots. I remember this because the landlords were fighting about whether they should do the repairs.”

Jin-Hyeok had no idea what she was talking about. He only did this because he had seen plant-elementalist class Players crushing big boulders with this method. Soon, Jeong-Hyeon stepped in and threw some punches at the statue.

Thud! Thump!

With a loud crack, powder began to fall from the statue. Soon, Ji-Soo hugged Cha Jin-Sol and they shouted.

“We found it!”

“We found the Core!”

Both of them looked very happy. Jin-Hyeok did not know when they became so close.

He continued his own livestream.

“With luck on our side, we have found the Core.”

Jin-Hyeok was quite amused that he still had a keen eye. It was also a lot of fun to find the Core. Looking at it through the Broadcaster’s Truesight gave him more accurate information.

[Golden Golem’s Outer Core]

“I believe this is the Outer Core. And if there is an Outer Core, that means there is an Inner Core.”

At the same time, a notification popped up.

[The Outer Core of the Golden Golem has been exposed.]

[The second and first floors have been connected.]

‘Hm… I didn’t see that one coming.’

Bang! Bang!

A loud sound could be heard from above. The Golden Golem was smashing through the gate on the second floor. Jin-Hyeok’s heart began to race as he felt a slight sense of danger.

However, the rest of the team’s faces hardened.

“It looks like the Golden Golem is coming down to the first floor after sensing danger, so let’s break the Outer Core first.”

The Seo sisters agreed. The Outer Core was not a living thing. This was the only time when they could focus on attacking the Outer Core without worrying about defense or stealth.

This was when they were at their best.

[The Outer Core of the Golden Golem has been destroyed.]

The gate on the second floor has been smashed. The gigantic Golden Golem revealed its body. It leapt straight down from the second floor.

Thud!

It looked terrifying.

“Okay, let’s reposition ourselves.”

If they were seasoned Players, they would get back into position by themselves.

It was hard to expect that from them as of now.

“Jin-Sol, I need you to stay next to me. Seo sisters, split to the left and right and hide behind the pillars over there. Jae-Hyeon, take seven steps ahead. And Jeong-Hyeon, I need you to be three steps behind Jae-Hyeon.”

‘Wow, this is harder than I thought.’

It was quite a struggle to verbalize what he knew instinctively and give orders to the team.

At least he got the formation right. Since he wasn’t crazy about being powerful anymore, he stuck to his actual job and focused on livestreaming.

“That monster is moving a lot slower than it was earlier. I think it is because the Outer Core was destroyed, which is a good thing among misfortunes.”

Its speed was now at the Brass Golem level. The team had gotten used to that speed.

“Jae-Hyeon will take the first attack, and Jeong-Hyeon will take the next one. Its attacks are destructive, but its speed is similar to a Brass Golem now, so you guys should be able to dodge it.”

“Got it!”

“Okay!”

Jeong-Hyeon nodded. There was a hint of fear on his face. He looked nervous. It was a good thing to keep a certain amount of tension when in battles. No matter how slow the monster was, if one of them got hit, they were dead.

This was not time for them to relax.

“I think if they get hit, they will die. So it’s best for them to not get hit.”

Jin-Hyeok was a bit disappointed in the weakened Golden Golem.

‘What a nice and peaceful raid…’

Normally, a raid was supposed to be a nonstop barrage of powerful and fast attacks. Now, the enemy is just powerful and not fast at all.

The difficulty had been drastically reduced.

“The party seems to have pretty good coordination.”

The Golden Golem’s chest seemed tattered, and its outer layer started to peel off. A small glowing stone could be seen in the inner corner of its peeled-off chest. There had been a few dangerous moments, but the practice had not betrayed the party.

That was why it was important to put their life on the line when training. If they didn’t train like they did, their limbs would be stiff and they would not be able to perform as well as they were doing right now.

‘I’m glad the team is not filled with Level Grinders. Even though they can be a bit frustrating sometimes.’

“Keuk!”

Jeong-Hyeon, who had just punched the Golden Golem’s chest, collapsed while holding his fist. It seemed like his knuckles were broken by the reaction force.

“Looks like we’re in phase two.”

The Golden Golem shifted its gaze to Jin-Hyeok. He could feel the bloodlust in its eyes.

“Our Tank has completely missed his taunt. It looks like the monster is either targeting me, or the Healer next to me.”

The monster raised its arms. It was about to use its phase two Skill, Rocket Fist.

Jin-Hyeok read the description of the Skill with his Broadcaster’s Truesight.

[Rocket Fist]

[Golden Golem fires its fist like a rocket.

It is imbued with mana and is extremely destructive.]

There was red mana gathering on its fist.

However, Jin-Hyeok just continued to livestream.

“Ah, that one seems a bit dangerous. I believe I am going to die if I get hit by that.”

‘Now this is getting interesting.’