Thumbs Up, Level Up Chapter 177

«M…Master, you need to calm down.»

‘Calm down? CALM. THE FUCK. DOWN?!?! Cheok-Liang, how am I supposed to calm down?! These bastards…. Imagine if I bought it for ten million Likes! Imagine busting my ass off to gather ten million Likes and using all of my Likes on this… I would’ve gone mad! But these bastards are selling [How_to_detect_dungeon_core.txt] separately! Ahh!! Damn their monopoly! This is why monopoly is evil!’

Ji-Cheok huffed and puffed like a fire-breathing dragon. Then he calmed down and looked at the information.

‘So, I guess the System wants to extort as many Likes as they can from me.’

He clicked the shortcut to purchase [How_to_dttect_dungeon_core.txt].

[How_to_detect_dungeon_core.txt — 500,000 Likes]

At least the System appeared to at least have some measure of conscience, so they were only selling it for five hundred thousand. Even so, it seemed terribly unfair, and Ji-Cheok was understandably resentful. He was of a mind to sue the System for petty fraud.

‘Damn it.’

He had no choice but to buy it.

[How_to_detect_dungeon_core.txt]

You can’t see the Core of the dungeon? You didn’t even know there was a Core in the dungeon? ₍₍ ◝(•̀ㅂ•́)◟ ⁾⁾

Well, look no further!

Now, I am going to teach you how to detect the dungeon Core! ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

If you are an aura user, try to use your Aura Sense by increasing the Aura proficiency to A-rank.

If you are a cultivator, try to use your Qi Sense by increasing your Qi Sense proficiency to A-rank.

If you are a magic user, try using the Class 7 Absolute Detection spell.

If you are an Elementalist, try asking the highest-level Spirit Elemental.

If you are a Priest, try becoming a Bishop and use the Sacred Law.

If you are a Shaman…

The txt file, surprisingly, actually contained methods appropriate for each job. The problem was, it could only be done by high-level Awakened!

‘Wait… So in order to detect dungeon Cores, I have to become a high-level Hunter? Isn’t that a little contradictory? Then how do I destroy a level-restricted dungeon then? How can a Class 7 Wizard or a Bishop enter a dungeon with level 20 restriction? Are you guys crazy?’

“These bastards… They had no intention of saving the Earth from the beginning.”

«This… is terrible, Master. There need to be a few more Hunters with fixed levels like you, Master.»

‘I know. This just means that no one but me can destroy dungeons with a level restriction. If there is no level restriction, high-level Hunters could handle them somehow.’

“Ha… Hahaha,” Ji-Cheok laughed, disheartened.

“I actually thought that I could just send this to other Hunters. If every Hunter knew how to destroy dungeons, each country could help themselves accordingly.”

He had thought that once he got ten million Likes, things would get better. He knew that everyone wanted to survive, so they were likely to cooperate.

‘But if only I can do it, that’s a different story.’

There was no way that he could handle all the level-restricted dungeons in the world by himself.

‘Ah… Is there any other way?’

Even in this ridiculous situation, he tried to think of a way.

«Master.»

Cheok-Liang came to comfort him as if he was worried about him.

“I’m okay, Cheok-Liang. I know there is no easy way for these kinds of things.”

Now that he had seen the information, he realized that he had just become invaluable to the world. But that was only worth something if his civilization remained intact.

‘What is going to happen to my world?’

* * *

⌜The government has yet to make an official statement regarding the terrorist attack on the country’s finest hotel.⌟

⌜As you can see, several parts of the upper floors of the seven-star hotel are damaged, and restoration Hunters are on the scene…⌟

⌜Hunter Um Ji-Cheok, who played an active part in defending against the terrorist attack, has also saved people in shelters in Paju, and before that…⌟

Every time Ji-Cheok flipped the channel, all he could see was breaking news. Not only that, but even more ridiculous videos on the incident were rampaging on GodTube.

[Shocking news! There is a Hunter that is wanted by both the United States and Japan? Let’s learn about Um Ji-Cheok, the one who stopped the terrorists!]

[China is seeking out the precious Hunter from Korea! Um Ji-Cheok’s killer performance!]

[He was just a Hunter Assistant, but now he’s a top-tier Hunter? Um Ji-Cheok, who is he?]

The ridiculous clickbait titles made Ji-Cheok’s head spin.

«Master. I found this article on social media.»

‘Hm?’

-Fk… Why am I not a machine… I can only stream Umji’s content manually. T_T

-I never thought I would stream a GodTuber’s content…

-Don’t just watch one, but open two videos and rotate them~

-I hope the Ra-Du’s fans would go die in a ditch somewhere ~

-Did the fans from other countries start supporting us?

-If you only pretend you’re streaming, you’re not a real fan! Stream until you die!

-You can sleep when you die, so keep streaming!

-Umji has settled down a bit now, and he’s going on TV shows, so we can take it easy… would be something an idiot would say! We need to stream Umji’s content like there is no tomorrow!! The result is the only thing we should care about. The result means everything!! They say that in the end, only the memories remain, but that’s not true. It’s the result!

‘What’s going on?’

After he had woken up, as he was buying information about dungeon destruction, the number of Likes he had was 8.21 million. He had bought all of the information with 5.5 million Likes, so the remaining Likes should have been 2.71 million Likes… Surprisingly, in the few hours of taking out the World Tree and having breakfast to restore his Qi, the Likes had piled up like crazy. A whopping 1.5 million Likes were restored before even four hours had passed. It was just past lunchtime, and Ji-Cheok had reached 4.2 million Likes.

He had gotten millions of Likes while sleeping, and another 1.5 million by lunch.

‘What the heck?’

«I have searched the Internet and found this. Shin Ju-Ran of the Shinsung Group said that she is going to give out an Elixir Replica to the top five GodTubers with the highest views, subscribers, and Likes this month among Korean Hunters.»

‘Elixir? Do you mean that thing with the power of ‘Absolute Recovery’?’

Judging from the word ‘replica’, it seemed to be an imitation of the actual Elixir. However, even if that was the case, its properties probably weren’t far off from the real thing. It was the kind of recovery potion that could bring a dying person back from the brink of death before they even got to the hospital.

‘Wow, in gaming terms, it’s like having +1 life!’

«Yes, Master.»

“So what rank am I right now?”

«According to her homepage, you are currently ranked seventh. The rankings are newly tallied and registered every night at midnight.»

‘… I’m just two ranks short. Well, if you think about it, It hasn’t been that long since I entered the GodTube industry. Placing seventh is still great. It means that I’m one of the top ten most popular GodTube Hunters in Korea.’

«Your fans beg to differ. If you get the Elixir Replica, you can survive at least one more critical situation, so your fans are eager to get you that potion.»

That was the dilemma for many Hunter supporters. The fans had to support their Hunter’s development and enjoy the Hunter’s achievements, while simultaneously being prepared for the Hunter’s funeral. That was why the number one most irritating insult for these fans was ‘That coffin would look good with your Hunter in it’. And the second most irritating insult, which had become popular recently, was ‘I hope your Hunter plummets like NFTs’. The trolls had become smarter as the GodTube artificial intelligence would filter out all the swear words.

“But how does my number of Likes increase when they’re just streaming my videos? Even if they watched them repeatedly, it would only increase the number of views.”

«Apparently, if you watch GodTube videos on repeat, the Like count refreshes automatically. It looks like the fans are pressing the Like button again while they are watching. And since your fans are sincere in their thoughts and actions, the Likes are accumulating.»

‘I see.’

According to Cheok-Liang’s search, other Hunters were also doing their best to get that Elixir Replica.

«The other Hunters are even doing streaming events.»

‘How about us?’

«We are also doing events, but the fans are complaining that the prize is not enough compared to other agencies. Asking for support from other fandoms when our prize is this small is unreasonable.»

‘Hm… If you think about it, Ji-Han has been really busy these days. He wouldn’t have time to worry about things like this.’

“Cheok-Liang, let’s place my potions as the prize for the streaming event. How about around one hundred potions?”

«… Are you trying to help them pay their rent? That is too much!»

‘I guess one hundred potions might be too excessive.’

Cheok-Liang searched for something on the Internet with his front paws and said,

«Looking at the current situation, it is true that we are falling behind compared to other Hunters.»

He showed the social media comments he found.

-You Umji fans can stream all you want, but you can’t compete with other fandoms and that’s a fact.

-Umji fans are always the loudest. Look at the numbers, they’re just pretending to stream. Gosh, I hate them.

-They started being the loudest the moment Ji-Cheok became Awakened. Look at their ranking, it’s pathetic. Hahaha.

-Ji-Cheok pulled aggro wherever he went. That’s why so many other fandoms hate him. That’s why the first-place fandom and the fifth-place fandom are making alliances to defeat Umji. His fandom is nothing compared to the top fandoms.

While he had been passed out after destroying that dungeon, something… something seemed to have happened.

Cheok-Liang seemed to be a little angry, and he slapped the floor with his tail.

«Master, let’s open up our arsenal. We should help out our fandom, even if it means paying their rent.»

‘Didn’t you just say that it’s too much, Cheok-Liang?’

«Master, there are battles that must be won. I beg you to reconsider!»

‘O…okay. I will.’

* * *

Ji-Cheok was thinking of contacting Ji-Han directly, but in the end, he just sent a message to his contact at Jungjin to put up his potions as the prize. There was no confirmation yet, which meant that the employee was probably busy with other work. Cheok-Liang reported the things that he had done while Ji-Cheok had been sleeping.

«Firstly, the short-selling that you ordered is confirmed, Master. I have invested eighty percent of your assets, as you told me to. The risk is high, but I believe that the returns will not disappoint.»

‘Good. I don’t know if the bank account server can run properly after the Tutorial ends. The money is going to be obsolete by then, but something has to be done.’

«Yes, Master. If we are successful, the profit will be staggering. That’s the beauty of selling short.»

Ji-Cheok’s head started to hurt if he read about stock investment in detail, but he knew one thing about selling short: he was betting on the other companies’ stocks going down, and the more they did, the more he would profit. The reason why he had bought as many stocks as he could in the potion industry was that he was planning to utterly obliterate the industry.

He had no mercy. Not only had these pharmaceutical companies ordered him dead, but they were also the reason why potions were sold to Hunters at such an incredibly unreasonable price. They were the pinnacle of evil that ate away at society, and the fact that they had paid assassins to kill Ji-Cheok was more than enough reason to punish them anyway. He knew that this war would not end until one side was annihilated.

When you’re just trying to make great content at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

“Then, our next priority should be increasing production.”

«I have also found the necessary skills for that.»

Cheok-Liang showed him the list. It consisted of [Summoning Limit Increase], [Summoner’s Talent], [Dimensional Echo], and [Holy Spirit of Compensation]. These four were all passive, which meant that they did not consume mana, and allowed him to summon even more potion machines that were treated as summoned beings!

These skills cost 1.2 million likes, so he would be left with just over 3 million…

‘I should still buy these, for my future.’