Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 20

“That was incredible. Are you hungry? It’s my treat,” Ji-Cheok asked.

Mu-cheok took a second and replied,“ Damn, I’m craving pan-fried meat patties.”

“What, you’re serious?” Ji-Cheok couldn’t believe his ears, so he wanted to make sure he heard correctly.

The meat patties from home weren’t anything amazing. Cooking this dish basically meant cutting up ham, dipping the slices in egg whites, and then frying them in a hot pan. The ham was so processed that it probably wasn’t fair to call it real meat, but it was the cheapest and took forever to spoil, so Ji-Cheok and Mu-Cheok had been stuck eating it. There had been moments where the brothers craved the patties’ special taste, even though they didn’t have money to cook enough patties to get a full belly. As a solution, they had tried filling the patties with rice, so they could cook a batch that lasted them the whole day.

There was something about that memory that bothered Ji-Cheok. He didn’t want to deal with it now.

“Is there anything else you want to eat?” he kept pushing.

“Nothing.” There wasn’t anything that came to Mu-Cheok’s mind.

“How about we eat something else?” insisted Ji-Cheok.

“I just said I wanted to eat pan-fried meat and tofu patties.” Mu-Cheok didn’t stand down. He stubbornly continued, “Hyung, this is what I want right now. It’s one of my favorites.”

‘Why’s he acting like this?’?Ji-Cheok wondered. “Yeah, I know. You’ve told me before that you like them.”

Ages ago, a younger Mu-Cheok had indeed told Ji-Cheok that pan-fried meat and tofu patties were his favorites.

The two continued talking, and then, suddenly, Mu-Cheok stopped in his tracks.

He turned to Ji-Han and said in a serious voice “Okay, it’s time for my contract.”

“Huh? I thought after negotiating the pay raises and other terms in your brother’s contract last time, you wouldn’t want to sign a contract with us…? You said our clauses were unfair.”

Even Ji-Cheok couldn’t help but agree with Ji-Han. He also hadn’t expected Mu-Cheok to discuss another contract.

“Well, this time, try giving me a reasonable contract. We will discuss fairly distributing the rights and obligations of both parties, so please revise the contract accordingly. Also, it would be advantageous for everyone, anyway, if we are able to enter dungeons together.

After hearing Mu-Cheok’s explanation, Ji-Cheok’s expression instinctively darkened.

‘Is he thinking that I can’t handle a dungeon by myself?’

Mu-Cheok noticed Ji-Cheok’s eyebrows frowning and said, “No, I already told you Hyung. I will not let us be separated. No way am I going to let you go in alone to fight in such dangerous circumstances. We live or die together.”

“You—” Ji-Cheok was about to speak up, but Mu-Cheok abruptly cut him off.

“You know I’m right. I have the final say. Who’s the A-Rank Hunter? Me.”

That didn’t stop Ji-Cheok from worrying about Mu-Cheok. Also, since when did his younger brother have the balls to talk to him like that? He brushed his anger aside, however. That was a problem for later.

‘He’s an adult now. You’ve got to stop babying him.’?Ji-Cheok told himself. He found it kind of funny that he was still worried about his younger brother after seeing him transform into an Awakened.

“Fine, from now on it’s up to you.” Ji-Cheok finally accepted that it was not his decision to make.

“Yeah, I got that.”

Ji-Han looked at the brothers and then interjected, “Alright! Before we agree to anything, Mu-Cheok here is going to need to take his Hunter test first. Are you ready to take the written portion of the test, Mu-Cheok?”

“I’ve been lucky, I’ve never failed or scored so low on a written test, so I think I’ll be fine.” It was true, but not the truth. What Mu-Cheok should have said was that he rarely got lower than first place. He wasn’t only first place in his school, he was ranked at the top nationwide.

“Yes, we know you’re ranked high nationally. You were a law student at the best university in Korea, so there should be nothing to worry about… Wow, look how wide Ji-Cheok is smiling, awww, he must be so proud of you!”

“What?! Keep it together, Hyung!” Mu-Cheok gave a big slap to Ji-Cheok’s back, as his older brother embarrassed him. It was just one whack, but Ji-Cheok could feel how much stronger Mu-Cheok was.

‘Maybe Mu-Cheok becoming an Awakened isn’t so bad after all.’?

Mu-Cheok’s physique had evolved in leaps and bounds after he became an Awakened. Plus, he was a Rank A Hunter.

“Hehehehehe,” chuckled Ji-Cheok. He looked like a fool as he called out, “Look at my brother! He’s done it! He’s an Awakened!”

It didn’t matter if the others judged him. His brother was Rank A, how could Ji-Cheok not be happy for him? Ji-Cheok wanted to run out and tell the entire world.

Ji-Han was clearly enjoying what he was seeing. He added, “You’re even happier than when you absolutely destroyed Shelton.”

“What? Shelton? How’d you destroy him?” Mu-Cheok couldn’t believe it. He had missed out. Even worse, Ji-Cheok didn’t know how Shelton was doing because they had rushed him to the emergency hospital right away.

“You bet I did.”

“You didn’t have to do that, Hyung…” said Mu-Cheok as he sheepishly looked to the ground. He let out a sigh, which to Ji-Cheok seemed like Mu-Cheok was disappointed that he couldn’t defeat Shelton himself.

Ring!-

[You have received 3 Likes.]

Nevertheless, Mu-Cheok seemed content that his brother had fought for him.

“Pffft! Shelton was just weak.” Ji-Cheok flexed.

.

Ji-Han was unconvinced.“Pardon? Seems like you’re the only one to say that about the professional Hunter that was sent by my uncle.”

Mu-Cheok ignored the rest of the conversation and just asked, “You didn’t get hurt, right,?”

“Nah.”

His eyes were worried as he stared at Ji-Cheok, but they slowly relaxed.

“Phew, that’s a relief.” Mu-Cheok sighed and then continued, “I guess we’ll talk about the details of the contract later, then. It was great seeing you, Mr. Jung Ji-Han.”

The two brothers politely got him to leave.

* * *

As soon as Ji-Han left, Mu-Cheok opened his mouth.

“Hyung, a lot of gods have been trying to contact me.”

“A lot?” This was a big deal. Many Hunters went without being contacted by a single god. Why was Mu-Cheok, of all people, getting so many contact requests?

“Yeah, I have this ‘Script of Chaos’, but I have no idea what the heck it says. Maybe since I have the script, the gods who wrote it are trying to communicate with me?” Mu-Cheok was confused.

“I see.” Ji-Cheok went into deep thought.

“Hyung, wasn’t there a god that showed interest in you?” Mu-Cheok asked.

“Yeah, at first, a notification that they were interested in me popped up several times. But now I’m waiting because apparently, the system’s under maintenance, I’ll need to get that next patch.”

“Hmmm… That’s strange too.”

“Is it really? The System seemed to already have bugs at the very start,” remarked Ji-Cheok.

“It almost feels like the System is blocking a god from contacting you on purpose...” Mu-Cheok thought long and hard, but then he shook his head and replied, “Maybe I’m overthinking this. Yeah, the System wouldn’t do that.”

He had already selected the most impressive of the gods that had contacted him.

[Four_Eyes_Record_the_Truth]

[Ibis_Carries_the_Papyrus]

[Your_Request_Was_Royally_Denied]

The gods didn’t share their true names, which checked out with what other Hunters had experienced.

Mu-Cheok continued speaking,”I think all three gods that spoke to me are associated with the Script of Chaos.”

The two tried to guess who each god could be and what their powers were.

“So what’s this Four_Eyes_Record_the_Truth?” Ji-Cheok started off.

“My guess is that it’s Chang-Hil.”

Chang-Hill was known as the one that created Chinese characters, and there were many other stories about this person who had not yet been revealed. In Taoism, they called this man the God of Scripts. Mu-Cheok pulled out his phone and frantically started searching the name up.

“I’ve heard that he created Chinese characters after seeing the footprints of an animal. Ah, frick, I forgot what it was. It’s interesting that people still aren’t sure what his actual position was. Some call him an emperor, some a god, some an officer. Which one’s the right title?”

“Well, at least, it seems like he’s a powerful god,” Ji-Cheok commented.

“Right? If I connect with this god… who knows? Maybe I’ll get some skills related to Chinese characters,” said Mu-Cheok enthusiastically.

‘Wow, look at you go.’?Ji-Cheok silently cheered, and then he continued talking,“How about the Ibis? What’s up with that one?”

“This one’s fairly easy. He might be Thoth of Egypt, the god of scribing and record-keeping. He’s known as the ‘Sorcerer god’, with a vast knowledge, who guarded the secrets of the world. One of his symbols is the ibis.”

“Okay so, maybe you’ll get some ancient sorcery skills from this god?”

“Yes, probably! This God apparently created Egyptian hieroglyphics, so he must have some pretty powerful ancient sorcery.”

‘Why?are the great gods of the east and west contacting him??And what?is this Script of Chaos that?Mu-Cheok?has?’?Ji-Cheok thought.

“Okay and the last one?”

[Your_Request_Was_Royally_Denied]

“...”

“...”

The two both stopped talking and for some reason, Ji-Cheok had the sudden worry that he would never be able to quit being a Hunter, even if he wanted to.

“Well, if you’re talking about scripts and languages, then you can’t leave this guy aside,” Mu-Cheok said.

This third person was no god, however. He was a human.

“I heard gods aren’t the only ones that could choose their Hunters. Heroes can choose as well,” he said.

Mu-Cheok could acquire skills related to Egyptian hieroglyphics, ancient Chinese characters, or Hangul. What a strange situation he was in.

Ji-Cheok found the last of the three names quite bizarre. This name did not refer to a god, but to a human mentioned in the ancient scriptures. The records that carried his name were neither myths, nor legends, because nothing phenomenal happened during his era. There were no gods at war. People outright rejected mysterious supernatural events, as they were firm believers in the Confucianist values. Even observing constellations was solely for the scientific purpose of keeping a calendar, not for fortune telling. The only things he left behind were records from 1418 to 1450 until the day he died. To be exact, he appeared in a hundred sixty-three records.

He had no one to pass down his oracles. There were no glorious myths to share. There were just a bunch of scriveners who compiled records about him. Would such human-made scripts and records even be meaningful? In particular, it didn’t seem like the scriveners cared much for writing the books about this man, as their words were unoriginal and plain. For instance, one of their writings read, ’Great men are usually inferior to the power of the Gods.’ They really didn’t care much about their work.

Nevertheless, this man’s nature seemed simple and clear. Even just the fact that nothing eventful happened during his reign was pretty telling in and of itself.

“...”

Both of them sat in silence and thought for a long time.

Ji-Cheok opened his mouth first.

“Let’s go for the Great King Sejong. If we go for a god who speaks the same language as us, we’ll at least get bonus points no matter what we do.”

As the god and Mu-Cheok shared the same culture, it made sense that his abilities and potential would be much more powerful. This man was on the ten thousand won bill, and everyone in the country could recognize him. Of course, they had to consider the fact that if their abilities were way too overpowering, the System would compensate their points accordingly.

Ji-Cheok didn’t mind this as he expected his wealth to increase with King Sejong on the bill.

“Hyung, don’t tell me you\'re doing this because of the superstition that if you sign a contract with someone whose face is on a bill, you’ll hit big money? You wouldn’t, right?” Mu-Cheok had called him out.

“What kind of idiot would believe that? Sheesh! Well, I mean, didn\'t some people still get a lot of money…?” Ji-Cheok sheepishly replied.

“No, Hyung… I mean, there’s a lot more to it than believing in superstitions and being lucky. It probably won’t have much effect… ahh, but then again, people really have made a lot of money,” Mu-Cheok admitted.

‘In any case, connecting with the guardian angels face-to-face and learning from them would be far more valuable. The guardian angels will help us better than relying on luck.’

Suddenly, Mu-Cheok was struck by a very disquieting thought about his own future.

“Hyung, what about when I want to take a break or stop working as a Hunter…?”

At that moment, a grim phrase also came to Ji-Cheok\'s mind: Record of Death.

Ji-Cheok didn’t know what to feel. If Mu-Cheok followed this god, that was bound to make him successful. He could achieve something. But rational reasoning could not be ignored, and his brain also reminded him that he needed to consider his work-life balance. Would he be sacrificing his chances to take a vacation? Would he die before retiring?

Was it going to be a yes or a no?

Finally, Ji-Cheok asked the question.

“Which one are you leaning towards?“

* * *

A few weeks passed before it was finally Ji-Cheok’s test day. He was determined to be the best among all the Hunters, so he had trained every single day that led to his exam.

Mu-Cheok insisted that he wanted to give Ji-Cheok a ride to the examination center. They left early and drove towards a site that was outside of Seoul and sparsely populated. When Mu-Cheok got closer to their destination, they saw many people already there getting ready.

‘Oh god.’

As they headed toward the parking lot, someone stepped out of the car in front of them. Immediately, a rush of reporters swarmed him with flashing lights and questions. Today seemed like a busier day than usual.

“Hyung, when you step out of this vehicle, they’re probably going to go crazy for you. After all, they must have seen your video,” Mu-Cheok said as he smoothly turned his steering wheel.

‘I?just uploaded the video to get some more Likes… Was that a?mistake?’?Ji-Cheok asked himself.

The video that Mu-Cheok was referring to was the fight between Ji-Cheok and the professional Hunter, Shelton, that had been uploaded a couple days before. Ji-Cheok had gotten permission from Ji-Han before the match to film it. Thanks to the Prince Charming Skill, Ji-Cheok’s skin had significantly improved. On top of that, his bigger muscles and better-looking body grabbed the attention of many more people, so his video’s view count had soared.

Although Ji-Cheok wasn’t saving anyone in this video, the Likes still kept on coming. Now, Ji-Cheok’s fight had become the number one hot topic, and all the reporters were flocking toward his car to get in on the scoop.

‘Oh my God… Everyone’s here to talk to me.’

“People are talking about how it was a one-sided battle the whole time. You were doing so well. I heard that people couldn\'t take their eyes off your amazing technique.”

“Thank god, it’s relieving to know that they like me,” Ji-Cheok let out a sigh.

“Plus, there’s something bigger that happened.” Mu-Cheok stopped the car and pulled out his phone to show Ji-Cheok.

[Mercenary Hunter Shelton assaults Civilian.]

It was a video of Mu-Cheok and Shelton sparring. Watching Mu-Cheok almost overpower his opponent was amazing for Ji-Cheok, especially because his younger brother hadn’t been awakened yet and had no abilities. The video then exposed Shelton rapidly activating his skill, followed by Mu-Cheok flying in the air. Even though the video showed his brother getting overpowered by Shelton, Ji-Cheok was confident that it would still attract people’s attention and didn’t want to edit any of it.

Ji-Cheok remembered what Mu-Cheok had told him a while ago.

— It’s probably time for me to debut as a Rank A Hunter. Hyung, for this to sell well, you gotta build a narrative that people are interested in.?

1. In a Chinese legend, Chang-Hil (Cangjie in Chinese) served as an officer of the Yellow Emperor and is said to have invented the Chinese characters. He was inspired to create the characters after seeing some footprints of birds.

2. This joke is a reference to a man named Hwang-Hee, who served as a chancellor for twenty-four years under the Great King Sejong. The phrase “Unfortunately, your Request has been Royally Denied,” has become a niche meme, as Hwang-Hee filed eleven times to resign from his position and the Great King Sejong continually denied those requests. The idea behind the joke is that Hwang-Hee died before he could ever retire, which is a worrisome reality nowadays.

3. Korean alphabet

4. Those who passed away while in the public service during the Joseon Dynasty, such as Hwang-Hee, were labeled with a ‘record of death’ (卒記) and the dates they died. This was to grant them honor and recognition.