God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 157: Episode 31_You Come In on Your Terms, but You Leave on Mine (4)
8.
Han Simin had originally started playing the game for enhancement.
’Make money through enhancement, buy land through enhancement.’
Instead of wasting time analyzing how he had suddenly gained that ability—something he wouldn’t understand anyway—he had decided to just accept it and focus on how to make a living with it.
So he had started the game, and he was proud to say he had been faithfully carrying out that mission.
But somehow, he had ended up progressing through the main quest, and enhancement had been put on the back burner.
Coming back to it now, he felt strangely sentimental.
It was like coming home.
“A man’s gotta stick to what he knows.”
Even though he had practically designed and driven the main quest himself, there was a huge difference between that and enhancement.
With the main quest, he never knew what variables might pop up. He had to stay on edge, constantly hoping people would move exactly as he had planned.
Enhancement, on the other hand, was simple. He just had to go where his instincts told him and swing his hammer.
It was relaxing.
And clean.
The only downside was that every attempt cost a staggering $130.
’A small price to pay, I guess.’
No matter how frugal a person might be, their perspective changes with their station in life.
Thanks to the insane revenue from his stream during the last quest, Han Simin now had over $17 million in cash sitting in his account and more than 350,000 gold coins in-game. For someone like him, enhancement stones were no longer a gut-wrenching expense.
They were just another disposable item, something to be used whenever he pleased.
“Heh.”
’You’ve come a long way, Simin.’
He praised himself and looked over at the otter.
“Kku-eong.”
Its appearance and its cry made him want to reach out and ruffle its fur for no reason. Now that they were stuck together, he felt an overwhelming urge to treat it well.
So, he held out his hand.
"Hey, give it here. Your big bro will take care of it."
"Kku-eong?"
"Hurry up."
A favor!
The great Han Simin was doing someone a favor!
Of course, anyone who knew him would have called it an investment for the future, but he chose to think of it as a favor as he snatched the ore from the otter, which was shaking its head violently in refusal.
There were only two pieces left. Depending on how you looked at it, they were rarer and more valuable than any ore he had handled so far.
"What the hell is this thing that you’re carrying it around like your life depends on it?"
"Kku-eong."
Ignoring the otter, which was fidgeting anxiously, he climbed onto Squeaker’s back.
"Alright, guys, you know the drill. No slacking off just because I’m gone."
"Kkyu kkyu!"
The rabbits were left behind in the territory as usual. Only Squeaker and the otter would accompany him on this modest trip.
A journey for enhancement!
He wasn’t worried about the otter running away while they were out.
"Kku-eong."
Ever since the ore had been half-forcibly taken from it, the otter hadn’t strayed a single step from Simin’s side, even without the rabbits watching. Its gaze was glued to the ore.
’Not bad.’
’Maybe it’s some kind of family heirloom.’ Since they couldn’t communicate, there was no way to ask.
In any case, it was a good situation for Han Simin. He carefully stowed the ore and closed his eyes.
He could feel the energy of a prime spot.
How many months had it been?
It was a restorative sensation.
"Over there!"
"Scree!"
With that refreshing feeling, they took off, completely unaware of the hardships and trials that lay ahead.
* * *
"Seolah, why does he need to do all that just for an enhancement?"
"Well... he does have a Legendary job. I suppose it’s possible..."
’...right?’
Jeong Seolah gave a hesitant answer to Kang Yeseul’s question. They were currently watching Han Simin’s stream.
"The title says, After taming the final boss of Main Quest Act 2, a live broadcast of enhancing his weapon to +15! but the process looks insanely grueling."
Seolah remained silent.
Indeed, it did.
It was the kind of broadcast that made you smile without realizing it. Or perhaps it was meant to show that behind every glamorous achievement lies someone’s sacrifice, pain, hardship, and adversity.
"If it’s like that from +1, what’s going to happen at +15?"
"He might not even make it."
The enhancement ritual Han Simin was undergoing was so complicated, tedious, and exhausting that even a casual viewer could tell at a glance.
Of course, that was all his problem.
"Wow! He got it to +2."
"But where is that? I’ve never seen that map before."
"The monsters look really strong, too. It’s the first time I’ve seen Simin struggle like that."
From a viewer’s standpoint, it was highly entertaining.
That was the nature of streaming. People watched either to relieve stress through the vicarious satisfaction of seeing someone succeed, or to feel a sense of healing by watching the streamer suffer.
In that sense, Han Simin’s stream had all the ingredients for a hit.
He went through every kind of hardship imaginable, and in the end, he gave his viewers the vicarious satisfaction of a reward they could never obtain themselves.
The only problem was...
"Argh! F*ck! BetaGo, you bastard! Do you have a grudge against me or something?!"
...the man who had seemed to be playing relatively calmly these days was now screaming in resentment once every ten seconds.
9.
At first, it had been manageable.
No, looking back, the beginning really had been the easiest part.
’What an excellent game.’
It gave players missions with gradually increasing difficulty. The only problem was that experiencing the subsequent, vomit-inducing difficulty forced him into a moment of self-reflection—’Ah, so they were actually going easy on me before.’—but other than that, it was perfect.
"Phew."
In some hunting ground he couldn’t even name, he was suddenly thrown into fights with monsters of unknown levels, forced to kill them, gather materials, and offer sacrifices.
Up to that point, it was fine.
They weren’t impossible to kill. If anything, it felt like all the armor enhancements he’d done so far had been for this very day. It was a close call, but the mere fact that success was still within reach gave him hope.
"It’s doable, but..."
Especially for Han Simin.
He may have had it relatively easy with enhancements since starting the game, but he was confident he could endure far worse hardships than this.
Before virtual reality, when he had to perform rituals in the real world, hadn’t he spent half a year doing every exercise imaginable, hardening his body just to earn a few thousand dollars?
This was less demanding.
It required less time, and there was no risk of physical injury. He was annoyed that he had to go through this kind of hell after putting in so much "time served," but still.
"Kku-eong! Kku-eong!"
The otter was happy!
For its sake, he could endure even more.
"I’ll hunt for you a hundred times over if I have to."
He steeled his resolve.
This wasn’t enhancement for the sake of enhancement; it was enhancement for the otter!
’I have to be ruthless.’
Either he had to max out their affinity at 100% or raise his level above the otter’s. Until one of those conditions was met, he couldn’t do anything else.
This was a problem that had to be solved right now.
He set his complaints aside and focused on the fourth enhancement.
Then, he was left speechless.
"You’ve got to be kidding me."
The sacrifices required for enhancement had been child’s play in comparison.
Han Simin placed an ore on the anvil and sighed.
’Yeah, that’s my life in a nutshell.’
He kicked the anvil, sending it flying, then leaped into the air after it.
It was a stunt he could never pull off in real life, but here he was, swinging his hammer in midair.
’BetaGo, you son of a bitch.’
For the first time in a while, BetaGo’s name was constantly on Han Simin’s lips.
* * *
The Specialists weren’t the only ones watching the stream.
Kenji was watching, too.
The very man who, in front of the entire nation—no, the entire world—had solemnly declared war on the Specialists, only to die first and become the butt of every joke.
And that wasn’t all.
His guild had failed to kill Han Simin thanks to the latter’s schemes and, in a ridiculous twist, he had even been shaken down for 100 gold.
To sit still after such humiliation would mean he had no shame. For Kenji, in particular, it was something he absolutely could not let slide.
"We’re moving out immediately."
"Yes, Guild Master."
In truth, the odds of victory didn’t look great.
They had already experienced it once. With the expedition members gone, it wouldn’t be easy for the Kenji Guild alone to break through those rabbits and Han Simin’s cunning.
On top of that, the Specialists had cleared Main Quest Act 2 and monopolized yet another round of rewards. The power gap between them had only widened.
Even so, Kenji didn’t care.
In the real world, he had competed against corporations decades larger than his own and still come out on top. He had triumphed in a place harsher than any jungle; why couldn’t he do it here?
This was just a game.
If he kept challenging the wall, a path to victory would eventually appear.
More importantly, the dozens of players supporting him weren’t gathered out of loyalty; they were people he had hired. Even if they died and lost, they wouldn’t leave.
That was the Kenji Guild’s greatest strength.
As everyone gathered, Kenji pondered. This was definitely an opportunity. The Specialists were busy collecting their rewards, and Han Simin had gone off alone, wandering who-knows-where under the pretext of doing enhancements.
Even the rabbits were nowhere to be seen.
That meant they could leverage their superior numbers.
’Han Simin or the Specialists?’
After some deliberation, Kenji made his decision.
"Find the location of Han Simin’s stream."
"Yes, sir."
Either target was fine. The rabbits would be hunting on their own in the territory as usual, and whether they attacked the trio, including Jeong Seolah, or went after the lone Han Simin, the odds were about the same.
The only thing that truly influenced his decision was one thing.
"We kill Simin, and we kill the otter, too."
Personal grudge.
Kenji was only human. This was the bastard who had ruined the climax of the movie he had been shooting. And now that same bastard had pulled in over ten thousand paying viewers to a single stream, raking in not just money but also prestige over something as trivial as enhancement.
Unforgivable.
Jealousy flared. In that state, how could he possibly care about the Specialists?
’Fine. I’ll go ruin it for you, too.’
’Let’s see how you like it.’
The Kenji Guild advanced.
* * *
"Man. Maybe I should just quit." 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦
Han Simin wanted to find his self from a few days ago—the one who had thought enhancement was so much more comfortable, easy, and suited to him than the main quest—and beat him to death.
Now that he was actually back at it, he realized the truth.
’Right. Up until now, I’ve only been playing the early game of Fantastic World.’
He had forgotten for a moment. He’d forgotten all the bruises and broken bones he’d sustained playing online games in the past, when even getting to +13 had been brutal, let alone +15.
"Phew."
A sigh escaped him.
Compared to back then, this was obviously a much better environment, but that didn’t stop the curses from flowing. It was like how military service might get easier over the years, but the soldiers serving at any given time would always complain. That was just how it was.
Whatever the era, the hardship you were going through right now always felt like the worst.
"Hey, Otter. You want to just walk around with these at +10?"
"Kku-eooong!"
"...Yeah. Got it."
In any case, he had managed to get both ores to +10.
Originally, he had planned to enhance one all the way to +15 and then use the other to see if he could tame the otter. But that plan was based on the assumption that enhancement would go as smoothly as it had before.
These ores were on a completely different level, and the process had drained him. Of course, that didn’t mean he could give up on the otter, so he forced himself to hang in there.
"Phew. Alright, let’s do this. I’ll do it. In exchange, will you stay with me?"
"Kku-eong!"
"Okay. If you don’t keep that promise, it’s you or me."
’Should I just let it go?’
He crushed that moment of weakness and pulled out one of the ores again.
’Simin, just suffer through today.’
’If I suffer today, tomorrow’s me will be happy. Sitting on a cushion of money.’
He comforted himself with that thought and began to move.
Or rather, he tried to.
"He’s over there!"
If only a human voice hadn’t suddenly echoed through this godforsaken place.
