I Gave Up Being Stronger

Chapter 290

“Promise me you won’t cry again,” Hyde said, gently stroking Harkoen’s head.

Harkoen, who was crouching, nodded. “If you leave me again, I will kill you. Understand?”

“I understand.”

Only then did Harkoen slowly get up from her seat and sit down. “So? How are you going to give me Kim Chul-Soo?”

“It seems you used Levina Mineral Powder on him. Is that correct?”

“Yes. You know me so well.”

“Of course, no one knows you better than me. Levina Mineral Powder has always been a good choice, but unfortunately, it seems Chul-Soo has Traits like Imperial Resilience or Mental Barrier.”

“The Levina Mineral Powder I made can break through anything, including those Traits.”

“I am aware. But that alone is not enough.”

Harkoen frowned. Her mood began to sour rapidly. “So? What do you expect me to do?”

“That’s why I met up with Chul-Soo. Brainwashing alone was insufficient, so I added something extra to it.”

“Something extra?”

“I deliberately revealed to him that it was a trap. And that he was brainwashed.”

“Hyde! Are you mad?!”

“Because of that, Chul-Soo came to trust me. Sometimes, a giant hole is less effective than several small cracks in bringing down a dam.”

“But...”

“It doesn’t matter. Whether he knows he is brainwashed or not, Chul-Soo will come to your trap on his own. That remains unchanged.” Hyde calmly continued, “I informed him that he had Ludon Mineral Powder in his body, and I gave him Lumina Mineral Powder. The preparations to give you Chul-Soo are complete.”

Harkoen, who had been fiery with anger, opened her fan and hoarsely laughed. Her voice was dripping with coquettish charm. “As expected, you know what I want. You are my favorite in the whole world.”

Having completed his report, Hyde turned and began to walk away. A thin smile appeared on his lips.

“You are my favorite in the whole world.”

He lived to hear those words. Despite having to get on his knees, being at the receiving end of slaps, and hearing humiliating words from Harkoen, Hyde felt everything away when he heard that sentence.

Hyde stopped in his tracks. “However, we cannot discount the possibility that Chul-Soo has seen through all of this. He might pretend to fall into the trap knowing he is brainwashed.”

“I doubt that.”

“He is very crazy, after all. He might even be thrilled, thinking this entire situation is good content for his channel.”

“What should we do then?”

“In the worst-case scenario, I will deal with Chul-Soo myself.”

Harkoen yelled, “You cannot kill him!”

“I will try my best not to.”

“If Chul-Soo dies, I will blame and curse you for life, understand?”

***

Cha Jin-Hyeok was amazed because Han Sae-Rin had created a virtual space that connected Arvis and the Earth Server, allowing for communication between those two places.

“Oh, I heard that inter-Server communication is quite a complicated technology,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“Says who?”

“Huh?”

It wasn’t so much who had said it, but rather it was common knowledge that he had known even before his regression.

Yet, Sae-Rin spoke as if it was nothing significant. “Everyone can do this.”

She meant it as something that all universe-level top rankers could do, and Jin-Hyeok accepted it as that.

A total of five people had gathered in this virtual space: Wang Yu-Mi, Kang Eun-Woo, Yolin, Jin-Hyeok, and Sae-Rin.

Sae-Rin seemed somewhat dissatisfied with this outcome.

“I have only managed to call five people. And the call can be maintained for only thirty minutes.” Sae-Rin continued in a slightly upset tone, “The rankers of Arvis can call over twenty people and maintain the call for more than an hour.”

Nevertheless, the five Players sat around a virtual round table. Jin-Hyeok had two reasons for convening this meeting. “The first is about the direction of the content’s production... But before that, Yolin, what about the thing I asked you?”

“I looked into it.”

The second reason was a more in-depth investigation into Harkoen. Knowing the opponent well could lead to a smoother progression, after all.

Yolin continued, “As you guys know, she is an outstanding Alchemist and her family has been wealthy for generations. Her family lineage dates back to... and so on... However, I found an interesting record. The founder of her family was named Carvington. But if you read this in the ancient pronunciation of the Helen Empire, it’s roughly read as Kihekton. This Kihekton was one of Garbinu’s close aides.”

The information Yolin had gathered was quite interesting.

“So, the start of Lady Harkoen’s family and the start of Katrina’s family almost overlap. The founders of both families were Garbinu’s colleagues. However, the information is strangely lacking in details as if someone hid the records.” Yolin, the history enthusiast, excitedly added, “I do not know what Carvington did. Fitting together other records suggests he played a significant role, but again, many records are lost. It’s very intriguing, isn’t it?”

Eun-Woo was not very interested in Yolin’s findings. He was more regretful that he could not accompany Jin-Hyeok to Arvis. ‘I could have created a production like the epic of a lonely hero standing against an insurmountable force...’

Looking at the holographic image of Jin-Hyeok, Eun-Woo was impressed. Just as Jin-Hyeok was serious about livestreaming, Eun-Woo was serious about his job as a Homepage Master.

“Um... could I possibly go to Arvis right now?” Eun-Woo asked.

Yolin answered, “That might be difficult. Chul-Soo can take only one person, and Sae-Rin has already accompanied him. It would be quite complicated for you to join them...”

“What if I acquired a recommendation from someone higher up? Like Marshmallow?”

“It’s hard to abuse that power too. Marshmallow already invited Boss last time...”

“No, not Marshmallow, someone like Marshmallow.”

“Well... it might be possible depending on the person, but you think someone of that level would invite you, Eun-Woo? Do you have such connections?”

Eun-Woo smiled slyly. “No, but I am planning to start looking for one now.”

“That won’t be as easy as you think. The rankers of Arvis are very proud of themselves.” Yolin had a good impression of Eun-Woo and worried he could get hurt. “Don’t be too reckless. You might get hurt.”

***

Though Eun-Woo said that he was going to start looking for one, he already had someone in mind. Recently, someone had reached out to him. In the deep of the night, while Eun-Woo was asleep, someone had infiltrated his home.

“Are you the Homepage Master, Kang Eun-Woo?”

“That’s me.” One would expect him to be surprised, yet Eun-Woo was unfazed. This was because such occurrences had become all too common. After the selection of the second generation for Chul-Soo Land, it happened every two to three days.

“You’re not surprised.”

“Well, you’re not the first one to infiltrate my home. So, why are you here? Are you here to buy unpublished photos of Chul-Soo?”

“Are you not going to ask me who I am?”

“Well, it’s got to be one of the Chul-Soo Landers, right?” Under the banner of Chul-Soo Land, everyone was the same to Eun-Woo. He did not care about who the actual person was. “Since I could not feel your presence at all... you must be one of the official second-generation Chul-Soo Landers. What’s your username?”

Muenne clenched her fist. She had come to know Chul-Soo too late. Had she known him a bit earlier, she could have become an official second-generation Chul-Soo Lander. Frustrated at this, she had not considered the very logical question of whether the Homepage Master was a Job inherently incapable of sensing presence.

Eun-Woo’s eyes narrowed. “Wait a minute.”

“...”

“You’re not even an official second-generation member, but you had the audacity to infiltrate the home of Chul-Soo Land No.2?”

“Are you No.2?”

“Of course. I am also No.2 of the first generation. I communicate with Chul-Soo directly the most.”

“...”

“An unofficial member just sneaked into my home without any good reason,” he said with a sigh.

The universe-level ranker Muenne felt an inexplicable pressure. She felt as if she had done something terribly wrong without knowing why.

“Hey, Miss Unauthorized. It would be best to stop doing things like this next time. Other members of Chul-Soo Land will not forgive you. Go back. If you are not an official member, I don’t sell unpublished photos or videos. This is agreed upon by all Chul-Soo Landers.”

“Wait.” Muenne became desperate. “My name is Muenne. I am the captain of the guard responsible for the security of the great city of Muren in the Helen Empire.”

The weight behind the name Muenne was tremendous. In a list of the strongest Players in Arvis, her name would surely be among the top ten.

“Yeah, I don’t care what your name is. I’m going to call you Miss Unauthorized.”

“I-I am Muenne from the Hel—”

“Yes, yes, I heard you, Miss Unauthorized.”

“Chul-Soo has recently entered Muren. I am also in charge of Muren’s security.”

Only then did Eun-Woo’s eyes sparkle with interest. “Then you could be a great convenience to Chul-Soo?”

“O-Of course, I can be of great convenience to Mr. Chul-Soo.” Suddenly, the form of address changed from Chul-Soo to Mr. Chul-Soo. If the administrators of Muren heard this, they would be grabbing the back of their necks in frustration. “I actually have quite a bit of power.”

Eventually, Eun-Woo walked over to his desk. “In that case...”

He pulled out a few printed photos. “These are top-tier photos I took with care. Do not leak them outside and enjoy them by yourself.”

“I promise!” Muenne’s gaze followed Eun-Woo’s hands, which were holding the photos, left and right, like a puppy desperately longing for a treat.

“And one last thing. Mr. Chul-Soo plans to deliberately fall into a trap,” Eun-Woo said.

“A trap?”

“Yes, here is the address. It is probably nothing to worry about, but just in case, I thought you should know.”

Muenne quickly nodded, and only then did Eun-Woo hand over the photos. She received them with utmost reverence and care, then soared high into the sky on a Wyvern.

Today, she felt as if she was the happiest person in the world.

***

Jin-Hyeok walked along the winding alleys. It was not a clean street.

‘I had no idea Arvis had such dirty streets.’

Essentially, this place was like the slum of Arvis. Trash was carelessly thrown everywhere, and drunk homeless people were sleeping on the street, snoring loudly. Whether out of wariness of outsiders or not, people closed their windows upon seeing Jin-Hyeok.

On Muren, 37th Street, at the corner of an alley stood a house with white bricks.

Fitting the role of a former Navigator, Sae-Rin had found the way very easily. “This is the palace.”

There really was a three-story house made of white bricks there. It was quite an old house, with clear marks where rainwater had streamed down.

“Shall we go in?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“Let’s!”

Jin-Hyeok felt a strange sense of deja vu. ‘That expression... it’s like mine before entering a Dungeon!’

He could not shake off the feeling that Sae-Rin was increasingly going off the deep end of madness.

Creak!

They opened the wooden door and entered the house.

‘Huh?’ Jin-Hyeok was surprised.

[Communication status is unstable.]

[Connection with the System is unstable, and recording is not possible.]

He was just a step or two inside the house, and it had turned into a terribly dreadful space for Streamers. Someone was coming down the stairs from the second floor.

“Welcome, my lovely muse. My beautiful Kim Chul-Soo.

It was Lady Harkoen.