I Gave Up Being Stronger

Kim Min-Ji grew frantic. The only reason she had managed to escape the Final Abyss was her strong will, which had allowed her to control her rampaging power. Moreover, she had grown stronger with the seduction powers of Kim Chul-Soo. Without her help, Chul-Soo would have found it difficult to escape that place.

Now, they were in a completely different universe, a place where Min-Ji could not fully use her powers. She had no idea how they were supposed to return to their original world.

“What are you talking about, Min-Ji?” For the first time, Cha Jin-Hyeok was slightly disappointed in Min-Ji.

Deeply hurt by his reaction, she asked in a small voice, “What…?”

“I’ve already created a rift for us to go back through.”

“But that’s too dangerous! This place isn’t just a simple Otherworld; it’s connected to multiple dimensions across the universe. If that immense force were to flow into Earth…” Min-Ji said while she jumped in shock. Her face turned pale. “It would be like a dam breaking. The universal force is far too overwhelming for a single Server to withstand. If Earth collapses, a chain reaction will follow! We’ve been tricked by my mother again!”

Jin-Hyeok sighed, then put himself in Min-Ji’s shoes. After all, he had never shown how he could travel between dimensions in his livestreams, so even someone as sharp as Chul-Soo Land No.1 couldn’t know about it. Still, a part of him wished Min-Ji had figured it out.

“We just have to protect the rift with Absolute Barrier,” Jin-Hyeok kindly explained.

“What…?”

No matter how powerful the universal force could be, as long as it was properly blocked, it wouldn’t be a problem. Min-Ji momentarily lost her words. She didn’t believe that a single Player could contain the power of the universe.

“B-But this isn’t just a connection between Servers, it’s a link between a Server and the universe,” she said.

“It’s fine.” Though he was slightly disappointed in her insight, Jin-Hyeok still appreciated her concern. He decided to explain more kindly this time. “Do you remember when I was trapped inside you…”

“Yes, I was happy,” she replied.

“No, what I meant to say was, didn’t it feel like forever?”

“I wished it would be forever.”

Jin-Hyeok decided to abandon any hope of a normal conversation and just said, “I don’t know either. It was such an immensely long time, so long that even with a Level-700 mind, it was hard for me to endure. We were in hibernation together for ages.”

During that time, Jin-Hyeok had continued to grow stronger.

“Now, my Level is displayed as [-],” Jin-Hyeok said.

“What?” Min-Ji exclaimed.

“When we returned to Earth, all the experience points I had accumulated flooded in at once. At some point, my Level maxed out.”

The experience points had come so fast, like a storm, that he had not even been able to see the moment when his Level had reached the maximum limit and turned to the [-] symbol.

“So… the time distortion between the universe of Earth and the universe of the Final Abyss amplified your experience points to an infinite degree!” Min-Ji smiled widely. It finally felt like she had beaten her mother at something.

“I’m not sure, but it seems like that. Do you know anything about this?” he asked.

“Yes!” Min-Ji replied, her face lighting up. “My mother intervened too much in the world!”

That had probably led to this penalty.

“A reward equal to the amount of time distortion was given! When a God interferes too much, this kind of side effect happens. But now that I think about it, it’s so unfair! Even as a fragment, I get sealed if I meddle too much, yet my mother can just do whatever she wants. Talk about double standards!” Min-Ji said, angrily.

“Uh… the way you’re talking makes it sound like you and your mother are Gods,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“Ah!” Min-Ji quickly covered her mouth and tilted her head. “Huh? Why can I say all this?”

She tested it again, repeating herself, “Min-Ji, the Mad God of Favoritism. Min-Ji, the Mad God of Favoritism… Oh, I can say everything!”

“Wait, your real name is Mad God of Favoritism?” Jin-Hyeok asked, surprised.

“Yes! My real name is Mad Go… Uh…” Min-Ji trailed off, realizing that her name could have a somewhat negative connotation.

“You’re a God?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“Yes,” she replied.

“And your mother is like the creator of the universe or something?”

“She’s the will of the universe itself. I’m just a fragment of her… But wait, why can I say all this?” Min-Ji felt both relieved and a little scared. She wondered if something had gone seriously wrong with her mother.

‘Is the order of the universe collapsing?’ she wondered.

With the look of a child who had lost their mother, Min-Ji trembled in fear.

Jin-Hyeok gently patted her shoulder. “Choi Gap-Soo and Director Jang Michelle know your true identity, right?”

“Yes…”

“Then isn’t it possible that, since I became a Trinity Club member, I can know about your identity too? Besides, you said you can’t fully use your powers in this new universe. That probably means your mother’s interference has lessened here as well. If you’re that worried, we can go back to my original world.”

Min-Ji, the Mad God of Favoritism, returned to the original universe with Jin-Hyeok, and she felt her mother’s presence there.

‘She’s fine.’ Min-Ji could sense her mother’s breath filling the entire universe. She was still ruling over all existence. ‘Thank goodness!’

Relieved, the Mad God of Favoritism returned to the new world.

“Thank you, Chul-Soo,” she said.

“So, you do have a heart after all. I thought you only hated your mother.”

“I do hate her…”

“But not completely, right?”

Min-Ji remained silent for a while, then as if she had made up her mind, she cautiously asked, “But… are you okay with this?”

“With what?”

“I’m the Mad God of Favoritism, a fragment of my mother…”

“Are you trying to say that you’re not human?”

“Yes…”

“What difference does it make?”

“Huh?”

“Do you have to quit Chul-Soo Land because you came out as a God?”

“No! I will never quit!”

“Good. I thought you were going to.”

“Can I still be a part of Chul-Soo Land?”

“Please never leave.“

Min-Ji’s lips quivered for a while before she suddenly burst into tears. In truth, she had been afraid. She was scared that if people found out her true identity, they would push her away—that once they knew she was a God, they would be instinctively afraid of her. But none of that mattered to Jin-Hyeok.

Whether she was a God, a mountain, or part of Chul-Soo Land, she was always welcome.

“You’ll keep being a Chul-Soo Lander, right?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“Of course! Absolutely! I will, no matter what! I will never leave—no, I can’t leave!”

“Good, that’s settled.”

Min-Ji clung to Jin-Hyeok, crying in his arms for a long time. In that time, much seemed to change. It felt as if space and time were shifting, as if her very essence was transforming. The being who had been born as the Mad God of Favoritism had, through a stroke of luck, gained a new attitude.

“I’m not the Mad God of Favoritism anymore,” she said.

Jin-Hyeok pulled out a handkerchief and gently wiped her tears. “Then what are you now?”

“I’m the Mad God of Pure Love.”

The Mad God of Favoritism had become the Mad God of Pure Love.

***

Min-Ji marveled at her transformation.

“I used to feel like I was constantly being chased. I worried all the time—what if another Chul-Soo Lander dared to target you? What if you got hurt while creating fun content? What if viewers started bothering you? Day and night, all I did was worry about you,” she said. Most of those feelings had been negative. “But now, things feel a little different. It’s like I have everything in the world. I’m not afraid of anything anymore. I just feel so, so grateful.”

Since she had started talking, she decided to share the overwhelming feelings rising in her heart.

“This must be what real love is,” she said.

The love she had known before had been too one-dimensional, filled with possessiveness, obsession, and the desire to control. Though it was difficult to explain precisely, there was something beyond that, something more.

“I love you,” she said.

“Thank you…” Jin-Hyeok replied with a shrug.

The love Min-Ji spoke of was something more complex than just romantic love between two people. It seemed to be a higher form of love—unconditional love, perhaps even a branch of agape, the divine love of Gods.

A few hours later, both Jin-Hyeok and Min-Ji were slightly surprised.

“We weren’t just sent to a new universe,” Min-Ji said.

“Yeah, I see that. I had no idea this was possible. It’s incredible,” Jin-Hyeok replied.

They had thought a new universe had been created, but it wasn’t quite that simple. Some kind of trick was involved in this.

“I never thought…,” Jin-Hyeok muttered. ‘I’ve experienced regression, but this is different. This is completely new.’

“If my memory is correct, this is the world of the game called Alteon Saga,” Jin-Hyeok explained.

With Servers connected and monsters and Dungeons appearing in the real world, a new era of civilization had dawned, and virtual reality games had emerged. The most prominent of these was the Alteon Saga. It was the most famous game on Earth and was now being exported across the universe. Alteon Saga was also known as the final refuge for those who couldn’t become Players, and its advertisement slogan was quite memorable.

[Not everyone can be Kim Chul-Soo]

That much, Jin-Hyeok agreed with. To become someone like Chul-Soo required talent, effort, and an extraordinary amount of luck. But in the Alteon Saga, anyone could become Chul-Soo. Even without Playing as intensely as he did, people could enjoy the game in a stable environment.

“It seems like this is a parallel world based on the game world,” Min-Ji said.

Creating something from nothing was much harder than modeling something from an existing source. It seemed that this world was a parallel universe based on the game Alteon Saga.

“Wow, your mother is amazing,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“She’s… not that amazing. She’s just great at nagging,” Min-Ji replied, her cheeks flushing slightly. “This is probably a world where Chul-Soo doesn’t exist. What do you want to do?”

“Not sure. Maybe I’ll try becoming the Swordsman I always liked.” But even that idea didn’t completely draw him in. What he truly wanted was to livestream. “I guess, this time, I’ll try to engage more directly with viewers in my livestreams.”

With that realization, he decided it would be good to start over and incorporate the new insights he had gained recently. His skills with the seduction techniques had improved quite a bit, especially after using them on a universe. It seemed like a good idea to test that out directly.

“I’m thinking of doing a livestream with a third-person perspective,” he said.

“Um…, that might be…” Min-Ji hesitated, worried that it could attract too many obsessive fans. After pondering it for a moment, she shook her head. “Whatever you decide, I’ll support you and help. How grand do you want your livestream to be?”

“I think I’ll start small, nothing too big. I’m not exactly great at communication.”

Jin-Hyeok decided to return to his roots and start livestreaming again, but in a place where no one knew him. He had no idea that, like a needle hidden in a pocket, an unexpected problem was about to reveal itself.