I Gave Up Being Stronger

Chapter 176

[You have entered the Field 「The Twisted World of the Swallowing Croaker」.]

Han Sae-Rin and Cha Jin-Hyeok entered a new Field. They didn’t encounter anything special upon entry.

Jin-Hyeok let go of Sae-Rin’s hand and said, “It kind of feels like we are in a cave.”

It was a space full of crinkly wrinkles and relatively squishy ground. The darkness prevented them from seeing far. Jin-Hyeok used Broadcaster’s Light to illuminate the surroundings.

“Do you always act on your own without being told to ensure visibility by the Navigator?” Sae-Rin said.

She had brought up a valid point. However, her words would have applied to him only if he were a Swordsman.

“Don’t you know that lighting is essential for livestreaming?” he replied.

“Before it’s a livestream, we are in a Play.”

“For me, Playing is livestreaming.”

Sae-Rin looked at him, slightly annoyed. “Next time, ask for my permission first.”

‘She’s really making a fuss about the lighting.’

Although he thought that, he could understand her point as well. In dark places, sudden changes in brightness could trigger traps. An arrow could strike their eyes just due to brightening the area, if they were unlucky.

‘I should think of ways to conduct livestreams effectively even in the dark.’

He could consider using tools like infrared cameras. Jin-Hyeok promised himself to practice talking underwater and livestreaming in the dark after clearing this Scenario.

“Hey, did you hear what I said?” Sae-Rin said in a deliberately stern voice.

“Yeah, whatever.”

Thanks to her, Jin-Hyeok had realized a limitation—the difficulty of livestreaming in the dark. Out of gratitude, he simply agreed with her.

“And don’t just grab my hand without asking,” Sae-Rin added.

“Hey, that’s not fair. You are the Navigator, so you should know better. Right now, I am the only one who can protect you, and when we enter such a suspicious space, we should always move togeth—”

“Anyway! Ask for my opinion before grabbing. You’re confusing me!”

Jin-Hyeok did not understand what was so confusing. Perhaps, there was some Navigator’s code that he was not aware of.

Sae-Rin started walking ahead.

“It seems she is exploring the walls and spreading mana to find the right path. I would expect parasites inside such a huge creature, but there don’t seem to be any.”

The lack of imminent danger made the tension drop. Jin-Hyeok regretted turning on the lights. The darkness would have added a unique tension.

As the livestream started to feel a bit loose, Sae-Rin said, “I know you must have felt it, but this is a very complex maze.”

“And?”

Sae-Rin’s specialty as a Secret Pioneer was finding her way through mazes. However, the two of them were not in a maze-type Dungeon, so Jin-Hyeok assumed it was unlikely that she would lose her way in a Field inside a monster’s body.

“It’s very long. Even if we find the right path, it might take us about fifteen days to traverse it.”

“Ah... That’s too long. Can’t we shorten it?”

“At best, ten days, assuming there are no dangerous parasitic monsters or traps,” she answered.

“But there will be parasitic monsters or traps, right?”

“It’s likely. Which means it would take even longer.”

Wandering in a maze for ten days, or even more, did not seem like great content. Jin-Hyeok wondered who would enjoy content where the path looked the same no matter how far they went.

‘I have to produce interesting content for my livestream continuously.’

This was a crisis.

“Chul-Soo, can you summon the Thunder Dragon here?” Sae-Rin asked.

“If this Field is not disconnected from our world, probably?”

That seemed possible, but there was a problem with it.

“But if I summon the Thunder Dragon here, the Swallowing Croaker might die.”

“Does that matter? If our goal is to hunt the Swallowing Croaker, that might be the quickest way.” Sae-Rin’s eyes sparkled. She seemed curious about what would happen if he summoned the Thunder Dragon inside a monster.

“I can’t do that.”

“Why?”

“That’s because...”

‘I can’t do the same thing as the weak Anus Destroyer!’

He needed to prove that he was better than the Anus Destroyer. Simply killing the Swallowing Croaker was not meaningful enough. Unable to say this, Jin-Hyeok pondered his next words for a moment before saying, “It’s because I promised Park Terse.”

***

Terse, who was sitting on a bench in Yeouido Han River Park and monitoring the livestream, was moved.

?It’s because I promised Park Terse.?

Chul-Soo truly lived up to his position as the world’s number-one Streamer. The weight of the promise was very heavy.

‘If I were in Chul-Soo’s shoes... I might have summoned the Thunder Dragon,’ Terse thought.

However, in the end, Chul-Soo strived to keep his promise. That alone was a gratifying thing for Terse. A wave of warm emotion surged in his heart.

‘I must succeed in communicating with the Swallowing Croaker, no matter what.’

Terse urged Mole Man to ride the Duck Man to the Han River. Finding the Swallowing Croaker was not difficult since Terse had marked it with his mana before.

Terse managed to catch the Swallowing Croaker using a specially-made fishing rod.

“What? This is the Swallowing Croaker? It’s so small, moly!”

“Yes.”

The Swallowing Croaker had transformed into a small carp the size of a palm.

“If you could catch it like this, why didn’t you catch it earlier, moly?”

“I wasn’t confident.”

“Huh?”

“Taming is all about communication. It’s a matter of sensitivity. Until now, I did not have the confidence to catch the Swallowing Croaker. I lacked both confidence and the will to do it.”

However, things were different now. Terse’s mindset had slightly changed, and his ability to communicate had greatly increased.

“Now that I understand the weight of the promise, I must succeed in communicating with the Swallowing Croaker.”

***

“Let’s just go through the walls,” Sae-Rin suggested.

“...Like break through the walls?”

This approach was more akin to Mole Man’s style than Pathfinder’s. Normally, Pathfinder would find the correct path, while Mole Man would create a new path. Yet, she was talking about breaking through.

“The walls are soft, easy to cut through. We can just make holes and move through them,” she explained.

Jin-Hyeok now realized why Sae-Rin had transformed from the Secret Pioneer to the Secret Destroyer.

“Isn’t making holes in the walls akin to puncturing the intestines, if we compare it to a human body? Is that okay?”

“What if it’s not okay?” Sae-Rin frowned but continued, “Small holes in the belly are not a big deal.”

“True.”

They started moving by making holes in the walls. Initially, cutting through was tough, but as Jin-Hyeok practiced with his sword, it became easier.

“You’re cutting pretty well now, huh?” Sae-Rin said.

“Looks like it.”

At first, the Swallowing Croaker seemed to struggle painfully; it felt like an earthquake was occurring throughout the Field. But now, the monster seemed to be okay. It meant Jin-Hyeok’s swordsmanship had improved.

‘The number of viewers is dropping.’

The live viewer count had dropped by five thousand, from 300,000 to 295,000. A sense of crisis enveloped him. So, he changed the title of the livestream.

[Secret reason why this monster is Scenario-level.]

Then he asked Sae-Rin, “Sae-Rin, why do you think this monster is Scenario-level?”

“What?”

“I mean, its very name implies it is part of a Scenario. But it seems to lack an impact like that of the Queen Ant or the Fall of Yeonhui-dong Scenarios.”

Sae-Rin pondered the question for a moment. “Maybe because it can change its size at will? Actually, without Terse’s help, it would have been almost impossible to find. It repels all attacks from the outside.”

“Do you think that’s all?”

Sae-Rin peeled off some sticky substances stuck to her shoes. “Well, there might be something else connected to it. It’s strange that we keep encountering this Unidentifiable Fibrous Material.”

It seemed like she was starting to get a clue.

“You’re right. I was surprised when you used it to make the Paper Soldier’s Protective Gear.”

Paper Soldier was a foreshadowing for the soon-to-appear Paper Sorcerer Makendra. The words ‘Paper Soldier’ helped Jin-Hyeok realize that this Swallowing Croaker was the starting point of a Connected Scenario.

‘Before my regression, the weak Lee Hyeon-Seong killed the Swallowing Croaker, so the Scenario was not fully cleared.’

Jin-Hyeok remembered it had been only partially cleared. Keeping the Swallowing Croaker alive and doing something with it was probably the way to get an All-Clear. The Connected Scenario would start then.

After giving it another thought, Sae-Rin quickly continued, “Chul-Soo, you asked me before if the Black Alliance was aiming for something else.”

“I did.”

“Maybe this fish has some connections to the Black Alliance.”

“What?”

“Check this out.” Sae-Rin peeled off more of the Unidentifiable Fibrous Material from the wall. “The Swallowing Croaker has a gourmet taste. It does not swallow the same thing twice.”

It had swallowed a cruise ship and then a bridge.

“And it completely dissolves everything it swallows.”

There was no trace of steel bars, concrete, or steel plates inside it. The Swallowing Croaker had digested everything.

“But there is too much of this Unidentifiable Fibrous Material. It’s almost as if someone fed it deliberately,” Sae-Rin said.

“...”

“Remember when I made the protective gear earlier? I made it with just a handful of this stuff.” Sae-Rin scraped off more of the Unidentifiable Fibrous Material and laid it on the ground. “Look at this. There is enough here to make dozens of protective gears like the one I made before. This isn’t something the Swallowing Croaker ate on its own... It’s as if the monster was forced to swallow all this.”

“It could have swallowed a large amount at once.”

“But the distribution of these substances is too even. We found some above and right at the entrance of the Field. We have been cutting through for a while, and there is so much here too.”

Jin-Hyeok was not sure how the Swallowing Croaker was related to the Black Alliance. However, that did not really matter.

‘Great. The number of viewers is going back up.’

***

“Oh my God!” Terse ran with all his might, valuing the fishbowl more than his own life, as he searched for Cha Jin-Sol. “Yes, please treat it quickly.”

Blood was oozing out from the anal region of the Swallowing Croaker.

“Mr. Gobble is in a lot of pain. Please help.” Terse had named the Swallowing Croaker Mr. Gobble.

Jin-Sol shook her head in disbelief.

“You said it was an emergency! I can’t believe you asked for me to treat a fish’s hemorrhoids. Do you really think I have that much free time?” She yelled as she glared at Mole Man, “You said it was really important. I postponed an important meeting for this. Is treating a fish’s hemorrhoids that urgent?”

“Well... you see, moly...”

“Oh, I forgot to mention. Mr. Gobble’s real name is the Swallowing Croaker,” Terse explained.

“What?” Jin-Sol said.

“Inside it are your brother and Pathfinder. We don’t know what will happen to the world inside if it dies.”

“You should have said that earlier! What do you want me to do?”

“Just as I said... You need to treat it.”

“But I’ve never treated a monster before,” Jin-Sol replied.

“Aren’t you the Blood Priest? I can feel it. With your power related to handling blood, you can heal Mr. Gobble. Trust me.”

Jin-Sol began to treat the Swallowing Croaker’s hemorrhoids.

Terse sighed in relief. “You need to keep treating it. As you can see from Chul-Soo’s livestream, some brutal Play is going on inside Mr. Gobble.”

Terse wiped the sweat beading on his forehead. “If it weren’t for you, Blood Priest, Mr. Gobble might have died.”

“What happens if Mr. Gobble dies?”

“I’ll answer that, moly. If the body dies, it would be like a Dungeon collapsing, moly. If the Dungeon collapses, all the Players inside might die, moly,” Mole Man interjected.

Jin-Sol focused on the healing even more intently.

‘What kind of bizarre[1] fish is this?’ Jin-Sol thought.

Using too much of her divine power could cause addiction symptoms. She needed to gently and continuously infuse a tiny amount of divine power into the monster. It was not an easy task. It was easier to exhale in one big breath than to draw out long, thin breaths.

“I recommend you stream snipe Chul-Soo’s livestream, moly.” Mole Man showed her his phone.

Jin-Hyeok’s livestream showed him cutting the inner walls at that moment. Jin-Sol timed her healing with Jin-Hyeok’s cutting.

“There is no shame in this kind of stream sniping, moly. I think your brother can understand.”

Hours passed, and finally, Jin-Hyeok found a Gate flickering in a black aura. There was even a polite sign saying [Farewell, this is the end of the World Inside the Swallowing Croaker].

Jin-Hyeok approached the Gate and examined it before asking, “How about it? Seems like we found an exit, right? If we go through here, we will probably clear it, right?”

“No, wait a moment.”

Sae-Rin examined the Gate for a while, then uttered something strange.

1. The raws use the word “sunfish,” which is apparently a terribly fragile creature. In Korea, people who are too sensitive or fragile are sometimes described as sunfish. ?