Thumbs Up, Level Up Chapter 149

His fingers were broken, but he didn’t let go of hope and activated Indomitability to get up and fight again. He was running low on potions. Even his strength was not infinite, and he was worn out. He could not fight forever.

“Do you think I’m gonna fucking die like this? Fuck you, bastards!”

Life was never pretty. Hope was never elegant. Hope was a man stuck in a marsh, flapping his arms like an angry bird. He didn’t give a shit about what he looked like; all he cared about was that little bit of a possibility that he could get out of there alive.

And finally…

“…Fight.. ARGH!!”.

[[Small Despair] gets up from the ground.]

It was only one of them. One single [Small Despair] had finally decided to join him in this madness.

Boom!

The moment it got up, a tentacle grabbed it and started to eat it.

“Keuk… ARGHH!!”

It screamed while it was being eaten by the tentacle.

[The Devourer absorbs the small Soul of Despair. It is forever bound in the Devourer’s stomach.]

Even if they died, they didn’t go to heaven or hell. They just continued to melt in the stomach of that bizarre something. Heave, hell, and even reincarnation were just luxuries in the post-Tutorial world.

At the sight of the macabre meal, other [Small Despairs] got scared. It was not the peaceful death that they wanted, but the most brutal death to be eaten alive by that ‘something’.

Ji-Cheok had no idea what this post-Tutorial monster was, but it seemed to be feeding on the human souls and giving them eternal torment. It also seemed like Ji-Cheok wasn’t the only one who had seen the System message. All the [Small Despairs] trembled.

[[Small Despair]…]

[[Small…]

Not caring about them, Ji-Cheok still screamed at the tentacles.

“You fuckers! I will not die like this!!”

He didn’t do his usual fake pretty smile or fancy dialogue for his GodTube channel. There was nothing left but outbursts stained with tears and anger. That was it.

Crunch.

His arm was completely torn off.

“Hahaha. I’m so out of it. I guess laughter is your medicine when your opponent is too strong.”

If he didn’t have a right arm, he’d have to make do with the left one. He didn’t know what was going to happen after this, but he was too upset and felt that the situation was too unfair for him not to be desperate.

Bam!

He was flung out and he rolled on the ground as he fell. He kept rolling on the ground while vomiting blood. The taste of the dirty soil was really nasty. Pieces of asphalt road, once considered a symbol of human civilization, were scattered around like toy blocks.

He suddenly felt a gaze. Someone—no, countless [Small Despairs] were watching him.

“Do you think I’m gonna kill you? I guess you can’t even commit suicide with that body. Haha.”

Blood gargled in his throat. It hurt. His mind was on the verge of paralysis from the pain. But he deliberately laughed like a devil.

Countless [Small Despairs], some of whom didn’t even have eyes at all, looked at him. All of them were corrupted and grotesquely twisted, and for them, even death was not an easy task. They were truly pictures of despair.

[A [Small Despair] says ‘Fuck’.]

Ji-Cheok was still ignoring the request to kill them and used all his mana on the tentacles.

[A [Small Despair] says ‘Like, fuck’.]

This was a reality that could not be changed.

[A [Small Despair] says ‘Fucking shit…Fuck’.]

Ji-Cheok was really, really angry. Why was the world like this? How was it fair?!

Finally, a small wave formed among the crowd. In excruciating pain as they were, they started moving toward the tentacles.

[A [Small Despair] says that it is going to kill this bastard before dying.]

These humans, because they were humans, moved along even while suffering tremendously. Love, sacrifice, and self-loving, were all luxuries in their world, and yet they struggled with their cursed body that didn’t even function properly.

[A [Small Despair] says that it will die after beating the crap out of the tentacle thing.]

[A [Small Despair]…]

[A [Small…]

At that moment, a giant tentacle flew toward him, toward everyone. It was about to crush everything in its path. But Ji-Cheok’s arm had been blown off, and his right leg was also bent at a physically impossible angle. It was simply not possible for him to swing his swords. Even a broken toy would laugh at his body. He had no potions left, either. And with this amount of stamina, even Indomitability could not be activated.

The fuck kinda test is this? Nobody can clear this, you motherfuckers!’

Filled with unbridled anger, Ji-Cheok screamed out his best curse words he could think of. It was his final cry.

“FOR FUCK’S SAKE! COME OUT!! [Guardian of Hope]!!!!!”

Finally, the shield the size of a damn door that he had been waiting for so long decided to make an appearance.

[You have safely activated your skill.]

Soon after, the System messages began to change.

[A [Small Despair] is pondering how fucked up and dog-shit this world is.]

[One [Small Despair] changed into one [Small Hope].]

This ‘hope’ was not what a person had when they yearned for a bright future. It was more like a desperate cry in a hellish situation. The final battle cry that allowed a human to land just one more hit on a predator.

A message rang again.

[A [Small Hope] says that he thinks this whole situation is fucked up.]

[A [Small Hope] wants to drink the blood of its enemy.]

[A [Small Hope] wants to die after killing that bastard.]

[A [Small Hope]…]

People burned wood for fire, but what did Gods burn humans for? If the color of burning wood was orange, the color of burning people was white. Red fire burned at around 800 Celsius, and yellow fire burned at around 1,000 Celsius. The fire that burned everything, including humans, exceeded 1,300 Celsius, and the light of that fire was hope.

“You… fucking bastards…. YOU FUCKING BITCHES!!”

[You have turned many [Small Despairs] into [Small Hopes].]

[■■ wonders how you manage that without talking to them and with no mind-controlling skills.]

Gods didn’t know humans, they didn’t know people. Hope was the anger that arose when people had their backs against the wall. Mighty Gods knew how to bring humans to the brink of despair, but they didn’t know the true nature of humans.

‘Just like we only know how to burn wood, but don’t know anything about the wood itself.’

Humans were white charcoal—the kind of charcoal that burned hottest, brightest, and with the purest flame. If black charcoal burned at 600 Celsius, white charcoal only ignited when the flame reached 1,200 Celsius. It was a struggle to ignite, but when it was lit, it would burn far hotter and brighter than despair. People called that fire ‘hope’.

Despair was black, but hope was white—not because it was virtuous, but because it just burned really hot. In this world of despair, humans that reached the limits of their anger were sacrificing their lives for the world.

In the midst of the bright fire of hope that was created by this ‘white charcoal’, the world suddenly stopped.

[You have passed the Trial.]

In a world of nothing but black and white, in the gap between two dimensions, Ji-Cheok waited for that message. A message from the immortals looking down at an ant from their high thrones.

[[Despair] is watching you.]

[[Hope] is watching you.]

“Hahaha…”

He started to laugh and cry at the same time. His [Minor Intuition] was still telling him that this crazy, fucked-up future was not an illusion.

Flash.

The world started to crack, and that crack grew bigger and bigger. Everything started to crumble. A flash of light appeared and he felt as if he was transcending time and space for a moment.

In the end, he landed in his own world, in the present. When he opened his eyes, he was back in the dungeon he had just completed.

[[Despair] decided to keep watching you.]

[You have completed the quest.]

Theft is never good, try looking at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

[The Mortal Watched by Despair.]

[Class: Unique

A title gained when the God of Despair is watching over a mortal.

People crumble when faced with despair.

*Enemies below a certain level are affected by [Despair].]

The world that had been stopped returned to normal again.

-Umji, are you okay??

-Umji must have been affected by the negative mental influences at the end. Hahahaha!!

The chat window popped up. Ji-Cheok quickly wiped the tears with his sleeve.

«Master, are you okay?»

Only Cheok-Liang knew that the reason he was like this was because of the Trial he had just been through.

“It’s nothing, Cheok-Liang. That bastard only gave me a Unique title after all that crap.”

«I see… But isn’t a Unique title also great?»

‘The God of Hope gave me a Legendary title.’

He took a deep breath and tried his best not to lose his shit.

The chat was filled with people who were worried about him, as well as people saying that he was too arrogant and that he deserved it. Ji-Cheok fake-smiled at the camera.

“Wow! I just saw something preeeeetty crazy!”

-I guess Umji can’t do everything. LOL

-Still, it’s good that you got mind-controlled only after killing all the monsters.

-Crying is for winners, Umji! You did great! 乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃

Suddenly, it became difficult for him to breathe. The world started spinning around him. He had to end the stream before he collapsed.

* * *

Being immune to negative mental influences was a good ability. Thanks to this, he had been able to ignore all those mental attacks. However, it didn’t get him rid of mental fatigue—hard work was still hard work, after all, and there was nothing Ji-Cheok could do about that. His titles and skills prevented him from being mind-controlled or becoming insane, but the rest was entirely up to him.

When he got home, it was getting dark outside. The crimson sky resembled the sky of destruction that he had seen earlier. He could still hear the faint sound of the trumpet from before. It sounded like the sound came from that black horizon, but he didn’t know for sure.

He took off his clothes, went straight to the bathroom, and soaked himself in the hot tub. His body was limp like seaweed, but his limbs were still shaking.

‘Is this because I don’t have any alcohol in my bloodstream right now?’

He went to the kitchen and cracked open a can of beer. Then he took a sip.

“…”

His hands were still trembling, and the weight on his chest made it hard to breathe. Cheok-Liang was looking at him in silence. Even to him, Ji-Cheok was acting weird. After finishing the can of beer, the shaking didn’t stop, so he decided to have another one.

«Master, are you okay?»

“Yes. Considering I just saw the end of the world with my own eyes, I’m fine.”

«That was the Trial of Despair. It could be a mere hallucination… Ah, nevermind. I am sure that you checked that possibility with your [Minor Intuition].»

“… That sounds about right. And it’s unlikely that a God of that level would test me with just a random illusion.”

All the names of the Gods were filtered through the System. That was why Ji-Cheok didn’t know which Gods were giving donations to him. The only thing he could do was to shout ‘Thank you for the thousand Likes~’. However, [Hope] and [Despair] were not filtered even by the System.

Cheok-Liang answered as if he was reading his mind.

«Yes, you are right, Master. Of course, it was the same with [He_who_denies_death], but at least he took you to another dimension after you killed his followers in his temple. So it is understandable.»

Cheok-Liang stopped talking for a moment and sighed.

«[Hope] had a dungeon with its name called [Fortress of Hope], but it was not in the form of a temple, and the monsters that came out were not intelligent beings that worshiped [Hope]. And I am not even going to start with [Despair]…»

“I know. There wasn’t even the word ‘despair’ in the name of this dungeon. It was a completely different thing.”

«Not only did you survive, but you passed the trial of such a being with flying colors. You should be proud, Master.»