Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 30

“Hyung, drink this.”

Mu-Cheok handed a red ginseng pack to Ji-Cheok. The TV showed the moment Ji-Cheok collapsed with the boss monster, and he thought of how it must have terrified his family.

‘Yes, although I might be a hero to others, I’m family to them.’

Ji-Cheok imagined that he would also lose his mind if he ever saw Mu-Cheok drop down like that while fighting. He sucked the ginseng out of the pack in hope that it would help him get well even a little faster, but he still frowned at the taste.

‘This is so bitter!’

He couldn’t drink the [Lizardman? Berserker↗Medicine] every single time, as the side effects were unbearable.

‘A strong skill… I need to find one overpowering skill, even if that means I have to lose a large number of points.’

Ji-Cheok instinctively checked how many Likes he had.

‘One… ten… hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand… A hundred thousand?!’

He remembered mass spending all his Likes on his Strength before dropping unconscious. But to think that he had received over a hundred thousand Likes while he was unconscious?

[Silph’s Recovery] was 4,200 Likes. Light had constantly floated around and healed Ji-Cheok and his team members, preventing them from dying time and time again. This meant that he could technically purchase twenty-three of these skills!

‘A hundred thousand Likes for going through a dungeon once?’

Although this dungeon trip had almost ended in disaster, it still showed how many Likes Ji-Cheok could earn for clearing a 1-Star dungeon once.

‘I’d say it’ll be pretty profitable if I get even a quarter of this in future dungeons.’

On top of that, he still had his upgraded Strength.

‘I should use the leftover Likes to increase my stats after buying a skill.’

Ji-Cheok’s mana had now grown to a point where he could overuse it and have no problems. Other than that, he had many stats to upgrade, such as Strength, Agility, Intelligence and Charm.

‘How in the world did I make a hundred thousand Likes? How popular did that video get?’

He took out his phone and went on the web. As he accessed GodTube, he found the video—right there, among the trending list on the homepage.

‘Is it the algorithm making this recommendation? Or…’

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The video’s title was quite eye-catching.

[乃 Umji! The strongest of them all! He can do whatever he wants! The world’s first ever! 1-Star Growing Dungeon Cleared! (summary ver)乃]

Mu-Cheok’s earlobes turned red as Ji-Cheok stared at him.

“Titles like this are popular these days.”

On top of that, his t-shirt said…

[乃?Umji, Strongest of Them All?乃]

‘Yeah sure… The naming convention for this title must be popular on GodTube, and this type of phrasing seems to be popular on T-shirts. Does?Mu-Cheok really think that I’m the strongest…?’

It was nice that Mu-Cheok admired his older brother, but Ji-Cheok cringed so hard he wanted to curl up into a ball and disappear. When Ji-Cheok clicked on the video, light-hearted music started playing as it played an edited summary of Ji-Cheok's entire recording. The video started off with the scene where La-Du betrayed Ji-Cheok and the twins and abandoned them.

‘He seems less like a bitch than in real life.’

Ji-Cheok thought La-Du wasn’t as good-looking as he was, but admitted that some aspects of him were charming. The video also contained unedited scenes when La-Du swore at them. It was likely Mu-Cheok’s doing, and it had probably pissed him off while he edited it.

‘It feels more real after hearing La-Du’s swearing.’

The video continued with the bewildered faces of the Bang twins cross-cut with La-Du leaving the site. It then focused on Ji-Cheok giving the twins several buffs and locating the secret passage. Discovering and destroying the secret passageway allowed the group to quickly shorten the distance to the center of the dungeon, and they proceeded to their fight with more lizardmen! The clip also showed how Ji-Cheok had used alchemy to process the butchered remains of the lizardmen he had fought, as well as the jerky the group had made from them. He had to fight more and more lizardmen, and then he encountered the boss monster. Then, La-Du had stepped up to answer the boss monster’s question, and people had been put off by his proposal of sacrificing the two weakest people. The music then stopped.

[I’ll do the tanking and stay at the front. If we die, I’ll be the first one. Is that enough for you?]

The video showed people’s expressions when they had heard what Ji-Cheok had said. Then, when La-Du tried to brute-force things and take the lead, it showed how Ji-Cheok smacked the back of his head, knocking him unconscious.

Finally, the video reached its climax with the battle against the boss monster.

“Ah, this is embarrassing.” Ji-Cheok turned it off as he felt awkward watching himself, but Mu-Cheok spoke calmly.

“That summary video was a hit, Hyung. The original video also got really popular.”

Mu-Cheok then removed something out of a box—it was a GodTube ‘Silver Button’. When a channel had surpassed a certain number of subscribers, the GodTube headquarters would award this silver plaque. Ji-Cheok noticed that it was quite heavy.

“At this rate, we’ll get the ‘Gold Button’, too!” Mu-Cheok said.

The power Ji-Cheok gained from receiving a hundred thousand Likes amazed him. The channel had three hundred fifty thousand subscribers. They had not uploaded that many videos, but the number of subscribers kept quickly increasing.

Mu-Cheok continued.

“Ah, I’ve also applied for a commercial ad, and apart from that, many companies are contacting us for advertisement partnerships.”

“Your editing… it’s so well done.”

“Nah, Hyung. It’s all you, it’s because of your great work. It was difficult to cut scenes out while I was editing because every single moment was a gem to keep. I hope the world recognizes you for the work you do.”

‘Mu-Cheok… I think a hundred thousand Likes mean that I’m getting enough recognition already.’

Mu-Cheok resumed speaking, “No, Hyung. The clip’s narration is perfect, and it shows the soft human side of you. Also, Koreans love supporting you more because you’ve become internationally famous. They’re proud that you are the first Hunter in the world to clear an [Expanded Dungeon]. There’s a higher chance for you to receive more Likes.”

Ji-Cheok noticed the flaming ‘乃’ on Mu-Cheok’s pupils as his brother burned with ambition to get him Likes.

“Mu-Cheok! Seems like you’re more serious about Likes than I am!”

“Hyung… you could’ve died. You need to earn more Likes to make sure that doesn’t happen again! Who cares if others spread rumors that your face is the only thing that attracts Likes or that people are supporting you because you’ve reached international fame? My brother says that he needs Likes, and that’s all that matters!”

‘Y…yes.’

Mu-Cheok’s words made Ji-Cheok take a hard look at himself. Come to think of it, he hadn’t seemed to be serious about Likes. He felt like he had almost been careless as he had thought he was earning enough Likes.

“So, the next video we’re posting will be about the opening ceremony of you receiving your ‘silver button.’ We’ll film here in this hospital room. We’ll also upload a video of you appreciating your fans’ tributes.”

Ji-Cheok imagined a huge Likes fire burning on the back of Mu-Cheok.

“Also, I’ll be training hard starting from tomorrow. You won’t be able to see me for a while, so be prepared.”

“What? You are an A-Rank. How much stronger are you going to get?”

“What do you mean, how much? I’m going to be strong enough to help you and not let you get into this kind of danger again.”

He was such a devoted younger brother. Mu-Cheok continued, “I need a Hunter License, too, to enter the dungeon with you.”

* * *

The medical staff came in to examine Ji-Cheok’s state and explained that he would need one more day to recuperate and then would get discharged. Meanwhile, Mu-Cheok left to prepare for their silver button opening ceremony video. Even though he had mentioned that acting naturally was the latest video, there were a lot of preparations being made as it was more difficult to direct than filming on a set.

It was tough. Mu-Cheok seemed to have studied a lot to help out his older brother, but Ji-Cheok was still hesitant in chasing after this many Likes.

‘Let’s look at the reactions to the video first.’

Ji-Cheok sorted the GodTube comments in order of recommendation and read them all.

- 乃Umji! Gomji is here for you!乃

? I heard hardcore fans are banding together to support him, and I guess that’s true?

? Isn’t the size of your group still too fucking small to be recognized as official supporters?

? He‘s become so popular by riding that good-natured and kind life.

? 乃I pray for you to get better, Umji乃

? 乃Umji, Don’t be sick乃

? My parents have now become fans of him.

The fan club’s comments had been organized from the best at the top, and there were many comments in foreign languages as he gained more fans abroad. Since Ji-Cheok couldn’t understand what they were saying, he filtered it to Korean instead of using automatic translation.

- This Hyung is freaking good at fighting. His skill has become fancier than before, I can’t take my eyes off.

- I thought La-Du would get the top spot, but this Hyung did everything.

- La-Du’s parents seem to be nice and donate a lot, but what’s wrong with their kid?

? La-Du’s supporters are mourning.

? Hey, La-Du and Ji-Cheok don’t have official supporters yet. Both of them aren’t major Hunters yet.

? Wow, you must be so proud to be some major Hunter’s fan. Ahem!

Of course, some comments were defending La-Du.

- I’m not saying that La-Du’s nice, but wouldn’t it have been weird not to cut off ties with the auxiliaries? What did those two do until the end of the clip? Enchant? That could’ve been done by other Hunters.

There were people who agreed with the comment.

- That’s right. The others didn’t do much besides eating lizard jerky.

- Yeah. La-Du couldn’t help himself but do it to survive. Also, aren’t there people that survived because they decided to join their team later on?

Of course, there were some who refuted these.

- But there were too many injured people in La-Du’s group.

- I agree. According to the interview, other team members forced La-Du to make a deal with them before they saved him, so he barely managed to survive.

- Ji-Cheok should have just listened to the flamethrower. This jerk is just doing whatever he wants.

? La-Du had ripped off the back skin of the boss monster at the end. Without him, they wouldn’t have been able to clear the dungeon.

? Umji could’ve done that by himself. He was busy tanking alone to protect his fellows.

? Wasn’t it thanks to Umji in the first place? He both debuffed the monster and attracted its aggro.

- What the hell. La-Du was the one who told people to kill two of his teammates in the first place. Why are so many people trying to defend him? Is there anything to defend?

There were many Likes and Dislikes between comments commending or defending La-Du. The only official videos of the dungeon were films Ji-Cheok took and the Hunter examinees’ interviews due to Dungeon Growing. This caused more dispute as these videos were taken from his perspective.

‘Well, La-Du was an ass.’

The second dungeon contribution was usually called ‘assist’ and earned its own recognition. It was rare for the public to have arguments like this.

‘La-Du seems to have many fans.’

The Yum couple was quite a famous Hunter couple in Korea. They had done a lot of good things, made large contributions to society, and cleared countless dungeons. Therefore, compliments about them were everywhere in the media, and it was only natural for the Yum couple supporters to root for their son, too. However, they likely wouldn’t have expected that their son would have such a miserable personality, completely different from the picture-perfect couple.

‘He’s different in person than on camera.’

Famous Hunters and celebrities were similar in this aspect. No matter how they behaved in front of the camera, they always had some family circumstances they were hiding.

- Dear Mr. Um Ji-Cheok.

You supported us so much, and so I am leaving a comment to show my gratitude as there was no way to contact you. The two of us were able to come back alive thanks to you. You protected us more than what’s shown in the clip and struggled through so many wounds. The video doesn’t do your injuries justice, you have gone through so much…

My sister is still concerned about your injuries, I hope you get well soon with a good potion. Without you, we would have lost many people on this journey.

Thank you so much for defeating the last boss and not letting us turn into murderers. We’d really love to contact you, so please send us your email address at least.

Sincerely, the Bang twins.

? Let’s not curse the auxiliary class people out… They may be helpless, but they seem super-nice…

‘Yes. I’m glad things ended well.’

Ji-Cheok was glad that he had stayed strong with his decision and hadn’t been swayed by La-Du’s words. If he had hesitated even for a bit, everyone wouldn’t have treated him like this now.

1. Red ginseng extract packages operate similarly to jelly packs. However, they are more viscous and can be either consumed straight up or poured into a cup with water

2. The original says “3-Star dungeon”