Chapter 150

Chapter 150

Determination rose in Cha Jin-Hyeok’s heart; he had to unlock this Trait. What he had to do was something he had done multiple times before. through meditation, he floated in the universe within him.

‘I will make it happen.’

Jin-Hyeok told himself that he could do it and that the Unleashing Technique shredded all limitations.

‘Is it impossible? Is today the day I ultimately fail?’

Suddenly, fear struck in his heart, and his focus wavered for a minute. Then the image of Egan Paul appeared before him—the Egan Paul who always prided himself on being a step ahead of Kim Chul-Soo. Although Egan feigned modesty to the public, Jin-Hyeok could clearly see Egan Paul’s true self.

‘Egan Paul!!!’

At that moment, a minor explosion occurred in Jin-Hyeok’s universe, like a big bang. It created a small crack in his cosmos, and for a moment, something seemed to be visible through that crack.

‘Now’s the time.’

At times, anger could be a strong motivation or nourishment. Jin-Hyeok felt that the happenings before him worked on a similar principle. A unique force had caused an explosion in his mental world, providing immense power and drive to his Unleashing Technique.

[The special constraint has been destroyed (Unlocked).]

Jin-Hyeok knew he could do it; he just had been foolishly holding back all this time. He felt as if millennia of pent-up stress had just melted away.

‘This is why people should live as they are meant to.’

He picked up the phone and called Wang Yu-Mi.

Even though it was three in the morning, she rushed to his place immediately and asked, “What is it? What’s going on?”

“Yu-Mi, this is confidential. You cannot tell anyone about this.” Cha Jin-Hyeok shared the information exclusively with the Storyteller. “So, this is a secret. It’s about my Almighty Jack of All Trades Trait.”

“Ah, yes! The Almighty Jack of All Trades Trait.”

‘How would Yu-Mi use this information to help me? Surely, she will think of a way I can’t even imagine. Would it ensure Egan never surpasses me again?’

“It has been upgraded to a special Trait called All-Rounder. Thought you should know before we proceed with the content.”

“Hm... Okay.” Yu-Mi exaggeratedly wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “Thank you for trusting me! This kind of trust is a first for me.”

“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

After sending Yu-Mi back, Jin-Hyeok stayed up all night with eyes wide open, looking at his lovely Trait throughout the dawn.

[Munchkin][1]

‘Who would have known such a Trait existed? If I play this out well, I don’t need to retire! No, that’s not right. I am a Player who never loses sight of the basics, always remaining true to my aim.’

Jin-Hyeok decided not to harbor the weak mentality of possibly not retiring. He believed the reason he could become this strong was his challenging mindset that he was going to retire at Level 150.

‘This Trait is only activated in other Servers.’

On Earth, it was simply applied as the All-Rounder Trait, so there would not be many changes to his character on Earth. Jin-Hyeok once again reassured himself.

‘I need to retire at Level 150, so I should enjoy it to the fullest until then. But... now that I think about it, Level 150 seems kind of low.’

Jin-Hyeok always stuck to the basics and had never lost track of his goal, but there was nothing wrong with raising the bar a little more.

‘Maybe just until Level 175?’

Yes, 175. The number seemed pretty, and Jin-Hyeok liked it.

‘It’s just a difference of 25, so it should be okay, right?’

? ? ?

The next day at noon, Jin-Hyeok met with Pathfinder, Han Sae-Rin, in front of Seoul Station.

“Thank you for giving me this opportunity.”

Jin-Hyeok could feel she had become much more modest than she was in his previous life. She was not the type to throw such cringeworthy lines at him, so this made him oddly embarrassed.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said.

“I intend to show you this time.”

“Show me what??”

“That I am superior to Mole Man.”

Without realizing it, Jin-Hyeok found himself smiling warmly. Indeed, one grew best when they had a rival. Sae-Rin seemed to have grown faster than he remembered, which lifted his spirits.

“What do you think?” Sae-Rin asked.

“Huh?”

“Between me and Mole Man, who do you think is a better Navigator?”

“Numbers don’t lie.”

“... Numbers?”

[...#Let’s try to get anything I can.]

Most of them were pitiful Players.

[...#He is the world’s top-ranked Player. #I must see him in person. #Let’s emulate my ideal Player.]

Though, some were admirably driven, Five Crystals being one of them. Because of her attitude toward Play, as well as her demeanor toward him, Jin-Hyeok found her quite likable. Of course, it was not just because she had acknowledged him as the world’s top-tier Player.

Definitely not.

“There are occasional monster ambushes along the way. Insect-type monsters seem particularly dangerous. They often hide in trees and suddenly shoot venom.”

Due to these intermittent monster attacks, some Players died on the way, and Jin-Hyeok even had to save a few. He did not save them out of goodwill, but because he wanted to experience the venom, rumored to be quite potent.

“I guess it is true I have acquired complete immunity to poison up to Snake King-Grade. I don’t feel a thing.” Jin-Hyeok would have loved it if there were monsters with even stronger venom, but it was quite disappointing that there did not seem to be any.

“T-Thank you.”

“It’s dangerous from here on out, so you should turn back.”

Before he realized it, no Player was following them. Sae-Rin was moving incredibly fast, and more powerful monsters had begun to appear, which had likely deterred the other Players.

‘Hmm... But Five Crystals seems to be following us from a distance.’

She seemed to be diligently following them, using Jin-Hyeok’s livestream as a guide. He found it quite admirable that she was one of his viewers.

Sae-Rin, who was cutting down vines with a big sword, suddenly seemed to recall something. She asked, “Why did you save that girl earlier?”

“A girl?”

“You never cared about Players dying. Why did you save her?”

Jin-Hyeok did not remember that it was a girl. When he recalled the incident, it seemed like the person he had saved was Five Crystals.

“Are you the type of person who is kinder to women than men?” Sae-Rin asked.

“No way.” Jin-Hyeok couldn’t help but reflect on himself.

‘Did I show such a pitiful side of me to my old comrade?’

Perhaps Sae-Rin was warning him in her own way.

“Did it seem that way to you?” he asked.

“Well, she was pretty good-looking.”

“Was she?”

In fact, Jin-Hyeok did not remember her face at all.

“I just wanted to feel how strong the venom was. That’s it.”

“I see.” Sae-Rin, who had been eying him with suspicion, quickly accepted his explanation and smiled. She had to have missed the explanation when Jin-Hyeok said it in his livestream earlier. Thankfully, she did not seem too disappointed in him.

“But you could have just gotten hit by the venom and not saved her,” she added.

“Isn’t it better to save someone if possible?”

“I guess. There is no need to force it, but saving someone incidentally isn’t bad.”

Jin-Hyeok had not saved Five Crystals just because she had acknowledged him as the world’s top-tier Player. Definitely not. However, he wondered if Sae-Rin was this cold-hearted before his regression.

‘Maybe she is growing faster than she did before my regression. Maybe this is just my imagination.’

Sae-Rin seemed to be swinging harder to cut down those vines. Jin-Hyeok was happy that she seemed to be in a better mood.

Suddenly, they encountered a massive lizard-type monster.

“Watch out!” Jin-Hyeok tightly grabbed Sae-Rin and jumped up onto a tree.

‘Oh, I feel light.’

It was because of the Munchkin Trait. From what he could sense, it felt like his Level had increased by 30. He felt as light as a feather, so hopping around the tree branches while holding Sae-Rin was not that difficult.

“There is a large hump on the monster’s tail. It is swinging the hump with a considerable force. The tail stretches out like a rubber band and whips, making a more precise attack than expected,” Jin-Hyeok explained to the viewers.

[LV77/Hump-Tailed Lizard/Tail Swing]

Its Level was only 77, yet that attack had almost hit Sae-Rin’s head.

‘But Sae-Rin would not just let such an attack hit her, right?’

The Hump-Tailed Lizard was quite adept at hiding, but not enough to go unnoticed by Sae-Rin.

‘Was she caught off guard?’

If she had been caught off guard or made a mistake, that was a bit disappointing

Jin-Hyeok asked, “Why did you allow such an attack to almost hit you?”

In his embrace, Sae-Rin raised her head to look straight into his eyes. “Because I wanted this to happen.”

1. Munchkin is a gamer who disrupts the game's progress by solving everything alone, instead of following the rules and cooperating with other characters. ?