I Gave Up Being Stronger

Chapter 473

“Take my hand,” Cha Jin-Hyeok said.

The moment she heard those words, Kim Min-Ji lost her mind.

‘Hold Chul-Soo’s hand? Me? Am I allowed to enjoy such grace? No, I can’t!’

Her universe became chaotic. In the void that had once been empty, foreign elements began to gather.

‘I am Chul-Soo Land No.1!’

As the official number one fan of Chul-Soo Land, she could never break the cardinal rule and engage in direct physical contact with Chul-Soo. That would be a disgrace to Chul-Soo Land.

[You have activated the Skill ⌜Taming (Physical)⌟.]

However, Min-Ji found it hard to resist. Before that beautiful face, beautiful smile, and the warm hand extended to her, not to mention that taming Skill, she began to rationalize that no one in Chul-Soo Land could resist this.

‘Could this be Chul-Soo’s fault? N-No! What am I thinking? He would never do anything wrong. But maybe if he did something wrong, maybe I can take his hand... That would break Chul-Soo Land’s law! But this is his fault, isn’t it? No, no! I need to stop thinking like this!’

More and more foreign thoughts began to creep in. Dust gathered in her void of a universe and soon turned into twinkling stars.

Finally, Min-Ji gasped and spoke, as if she were struggling to breathe. “This... this is cheating.”

There was nothing she could do. Since someone had violated the rules, she had no choice but to react. Just like how an ambulance carrying a critically ill patient sometimes had to break traffic laws, she was forced to break the laws of Chul-Soo Land. She had fallen victim to Chul-Soo’s charm.

“No way...” Jin-Hyeok said. ‘Have I just succeeded in using a seduction technique?’

He had always found it difficult to seduce someone, but somehow, the technique had worked on Min-Ji. This time, something was different. It didn’t feel awkward or embarrassing at all; he wondered whether this had happened because his sincerity was genuine.

“Yes, that’s right. You did use a seduction technique. This is unfair!” Min-Ji said.

“So, I did use a seduction technique, huh,” Jin-Hyeok muttered. He had grown once more. A grin made its way to his face. “If you can just slow down your expansion a little bit, I will embrace you, somehow.”

***

Covering the universe with his Absolute Barrier was no easy task.

‘If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve leveled up more.’ With his physical Level of 700, it was nearly impossible for Jin-Hyeok to manage this. He estimated that if he had reached Level 800, the process would have been easier. ‘I’m still too weak.’

Faced with the vastness of the universe, his strength was still too insignificant. He wanted to collapse and give up on everything, but he couldn’t.

[Viewer: 1]

The universe was watching his livestream. Though the quality of the viewer was immense, the quantity was shockingly low.

‘I didn’t know having a low viewer count could shock me this much.’ Even though the universe was the only viewer, the number of viewers being one bothered him deeply. Somehow, the loneliness of that single number kept him going.

Min-Ji, who had been sitting cross-legged beside him, bit her lip in frustration.

‘You’re so cruel, Mother!’ Her mother’s plans were despicable. She felt like she were a puppet dancing in her mother’s palm, and it infuriated her even more. ‘I will show you that you can’t always have it your way, Mother!’

She needed to slow the universe’s expansion. To do that, she focused deeply. While Jin-Hyeok’s drive came from the viewer count, Min-Ji’s motivation was rebellion.

‘Things won’t go your way, Mother. I’m a teenager, after all!’

She suddenly stood up as if she were making a resolution. “I also have a Black Flame Dragon within me!”

Every Chul-Soo Lander harbored a Black Flame Dragon deep inside. Even though his recent livestreams had become overly mainstream and he rarely showcased his Black Flame Dragon, every true Chul-Soo Lander still carried a coiled Black Flame Dragon in their hearts.

Min-Ji shot up.

‘I will show her the height of rebellion!’ If she stayed still, she would never escape her mother’s plan. She needed a special momentum to break free. ‘I can do this too!’

Jin-Hyeok, who had been sitting with his eyes closed, slowly opened them.

‘Min-Ji is about to do something.’ Though he didn’t know exactly what that was, he could feel the intensity of her determination. ‘Do whatever you want, Min-Ji.’

He felt her approach. Upon closer inspection, he saw that her eyes were tightly shut.

***

Min-Ji decided to engage in the ultimate act of rebellion she could muster. To shake her mother’s plan, she had to rattle her mother’s resolve.

‘I will have to be more affectionate with Chul-Soo!’

Fueled by teenage rebellion and blind devotion, Min-Ji shut her eyes tightly and pursed her lips. Like a malfunctioning rhinoceros, she charged straight at Jin-Hyeok.

However, the result didn’t quite match the intensity of her momentum.

‘Just a hug?’ Jin-Hyeok thought.

He had thought she would crash into him with a kiss, but instead, she drastically slowed down right before him, barely managing to slip her arms around him. Even that hug lasted only two seconds at best.

“Eek!” Min-Ji squealed aloud and scurried back several dozen steps. Then, as if trying to prove something to an unseen audience, she shouted, “Did you see that? This is my Black Flame Dragon!”

At that instant, the expansion of the universe slowed down. Being a fragment of the God, Min-Ji could sense that her mother was taken aback.

‘Since even I can feel this... it means Mother must be feeling something intense!’ Min-Ji thought. Or rather, it was more accurate to say that Min-Ji’s latent power had unleashed itself, like how mothers sometimes displayed superhuman strength to save their children. In this extreme situation, Min-Ji had tapped into a similar power to save Chul-Soo.

“Now is our chance, Chul-Soo!” she shouted.

Jin-Hyeok, focusing all his energy on expanding Absolute Barrier to cover her universe, walked toward her. Each time he took a step, Min-Ji retreated a bit, but his strides were much longer than hers.

“Huh? Chul-Soo? What are yo—”

Jin-Hyeok pulled her into a tight embrace.

Min-Ji trembled as though she had been struck by lightning, and then she went limp.

“Ah...”

The strength drained from her. Her vision blurred, and the world began to spin.

‘The other Chul-Soo Landers are going to scold me for this...’ she thought.

Min-Ji could feel that her power was weakening. To be more precise, Jin-Hyeok’s power was completely overwhelming her.

‘So, this is what it feels like,’ Jin-Hyeok thought. The seduction technique was more effective in more ways than one. ‘Min-Ji is getting weaker.’

Min-Ji’s influence had diminished. Jin-Hyeok instinctively realized that this was a more advanced form of seduction technique than mere words. A seduction technique that involved physical touch was undeniably powerful.

‘And I’m getting stronger.’

This was all thanks to Min-Ji. Having someone in the world who loved him this much filled him with gratitude, which strengthened him even more.

‘I can feel it. Min-Ji is truly in my arms.’

The universe had taken on a physical form, and that form was Min-Ji. As he enveloped the universe with his Absolute Barrier, he simultaneously enveloped her with his arms. This physical contact was playing a crucial role in slowing the universe’s expansion.

‘The expansion of the universe is slowing down!’

The foreign substances that had appeared in the universe collided and exploded, consuming its energy. Particularly after Jin-Hyeok embraced Min-Ji, massive stars akin to suns began exploding continuously. Light filled the space, and cosmic storms surged.

[You have activated the Achievement effect ⌜Dimensional Synchronization⌟.]

With Min-Ji in his arms, Jin-Hyeok used Dimensional Synchronization, allowing the universe’s explosions and the scattering fragments of stars to pass through effortlessly.

[The ⌜Quill of Records⌟ begins to record the great footsteps of ⌜Kim Chul-Soo⌟.]

***

Three hundred days had passed since Chul-Soo had gone missing. What had initially been a hot topic that captivated the entire universe had now significantly lost its momentum. Though numerous members of the K-Force and Chul-Soo Landers continued searching for Jin-Hyeok’s whereabouts, no one had been able to find him. The GMs who had fled returned to Earth, and life on Earth resumed its usual, peaceful routine.

“Shouldn’t there be some monsters left on Earth?”

“I like being safe, but this feels a bit too extreme.”

This was all because of the Seoul Guardian Tree. After its mental connection with Chul-Soo had been severed, the Guardian Tree had gone on a rampage, wiping out every monster left on Earth. From the smallest slime monsters to the largest beast monsters, nothing remained.

-“I am still hungry!”

The only satisfaction the Guardian Tree found was in killing monsters.

-“Die! Die! Die!”

For a moment, the Guardian Tree almost attacked humans. Chul-Soo’s absence had corrupted the Guardian Tree’s mind, causing it to become increasingly unstable.

‘This isn’t right...’ Golden tears dripped from the Guardian Tree’s branches. ‘Am I losing my mind?’

It couldn’t believe that it had nearly attacked humans. This wasn’t right, it knew, but the impulse and desire were becoming increasingly difficult to resist. Since Earth had seven billion people, that meant it could smash seven billion heads. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

The Guardian Tree reached out to Elines for help.

-“Burn me. If things continue this way, I fear I will become a true monster.”

However, Elines no longer had the power to burn the Guardian Tree.

‘I think only Dad can kill you, but there is no Spirit Mage who can summon him,’ Elines said telepathically.

-“I heard Park Terse succeeded in summoning Alkinas.”

‘But he’s still too weak to fully draw out Dad’s power...’

The problem was that Earth didn’t have a fire strong enough to burn the Guardian Tree. However, there was another aspect crucial to Elines.

‘I don’t want to burn you, Guardian Tree.’

Elines had no desire to set the Guardian Tree ablaze.

-“If you don’t stop me, Earth’s civilization will fall.”

Even now, the Guardian Tree was barely suppressing its murderous urges. The Guardian Tree didn’t know if it could stop itself or would crave even more destruction if those urges broke free.

‘I would definitely crave more,’ the Guardian Tree thought. It felt as though it would want to destroy Earth itself, endlessly seeking more intense stimulation.

-“In the end, I would devour the entire planet...”

It could foresee a terrifying future, seeing an image of itself, completely corrupted, destroying other Servers one by one.

-“Perhaps I’m the Final Abyss. Please, stop me now.”