Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 141

Chapter 141

“It’s probably about taking the potion market share,” Il-Sung said.

“How much of an impact would it have on our company if we just let this happen?” Mak-Gi said.

“Considering the cost of raw materials of D-grade potions, even if we sell them at the same price as Um Ji-Cheok, we won’t lose any money.”

“We just won’t earn as much money as we used to if we did that.”

“Yes.”

“What are the other companies saying about this? What about the foreign pharmaceutical companies?”

“They are saying that we should put pressure on the Jungha Group, but not many are willing to act on it.”

“Of course they are. Those sneaky bastards!”

Park Mak-Gi sat leaning against the chair.

“I can’t just let this happen,” Mak-Gi said.

“I agree, father. However, there is no point in going to war against him. Our losses would be far too great.”

If it had been just a private workshop or a small business, he could have crushed it like a bug, but this sneaky bastard had actually brought the?Jung Ji-Han into it.

“Ji-Cheok must have calculated this from the beginning when he became the co-president of Jungjin Group, right?” Mak-Gi said.

“I think so. He started out as a Hunter Assistant in the Jungha Group, and somehow he seduced Junng Ji-Han. Ji-Han is now so much into him that he is putting all his energy into protecting Ji-Cheok. The process of making the potion machine with skills was streamed on GodTube, and it was aired on national TV.”

?A vending machine that spits out money! Let’s make it with Engineering & Alchemy! Vroom Vroom!?

“He is using his popularity to gain the consumers’ trust,” Il-Sung said.

“Aren’t the other successors of the Jungha Group trying to take him down? I remember there was a whole fuss about that.”

“Jungjin has grown too big. Also, as I said, Jung Ji-Han doesn’t really care about himself, but if anything hurts Ji-Cheok, he will retaliate like there is no tomorrow.”

“So he’s gone mad.”

‘What the hell is this Um Ji-Cheok hiding? Or did he acquire a brainwashing skill and did something to the grandson of a conglomerate?’

But he knew all too well that Jung Man-Deuk wasn’t the kind of guy who would let that slide. If he had to, he would cut his own grandson’s throat, but he would never let someone brainwash his grandson and bring his company down in the gutter.

“So you’re saying that we cannot go to war openly with them? He’s a clever guy. Did he think of all of this?”

War between the Groups was diverse, ranging from covert violence to overt takeovers. But all of these operations had something in common: they cost a lot of money.

“Then we have no choice but to deal with this quietly. Can you do that?” Mak-Gi said.

“Yes, Chairman.”

“Great, now go on and handle it. It would be nice if we could make him join our side, but… if not, take care of him.”

This was the final order from the SL Group’s Chairman, Park Mak-Gi.

* * *

‘It’s raining money, hallelujah!’

The sales were going crazy. People thought Ji-Cheok would stop after selling the first one thousand potions, which was why there had been so many resellers. But after that, he started to sell them every day, and eventually, the market started to return to a stable state. There were some articles reporting that there was a difference in quality, even though the potions were all D-grade, and that Ji-Cheok’s potions were the lowest kind among the D-grade. But Ji-Cheok did not care. Even if that were true, they were still better quality than any E-grade potions, and also the description in the System message helped the consumers trust him more.

“It feels like I’m earning money in a game.”

?You seem too serious to say that it feels like playing a game, Master.?

“I mean… It just feels unreal. I’ve never imagined earning this much money. And I also never imagined spending this much money.”

Ji-Cheok wondered if the reason why it felt unrealistic was that the scale on which he was spending his money was also tremendous, like in the cartoons he had watched when he was young. He wondered whether his view would change if he just piled up a lot of gold coins and swam in them.

‘Come to think of it, that duck was also named Scrooge.’

He remembered how much he envied him swimming in a pile of gold coins.

“Right now, the Likes that I’ve earned feel more realistic than the money.”

He hadn’t imagined that he would get 320,000 Likes just from an advertisement video.

-I thought he was a sellout, but he was just advertising his own factory! LOL

-I can’t believe he started a factory and advertised it himself. What a guy. Hahaha.

.

-Thanks to your potion, the hospital was able to save a precious life. Thank you. Usually, potions have a short shelf life and it was difficult to stock up because the hospital where I work wasn’t that big. But we were able to buy a lot of your potions because the price was so low. Thanks to this, we could save a life right now. And additional surgery was successfully completed without sequelae. Thank you.

-The potions were sold out before lunch, are the fans buying them?

?No, it should be ordinary people buying them. There’s no way the fans could buy them every day.

‘The reaction is better than expected.’

?In Korea, the word ‘Hyeja’ has not become an idiom for cost-effectiveness for nothing, Master.?

‘I guess you’re right. They’re cheap and cost-effective, which consumers love.’

?And the potion review videos are also trending, Master.?

Cheok-Liang showed him several GodTube videos.

?Today, I’m going to experiment with how good this potion made by Hunter Um Ji-Cheok is! Even the name of the potion is catchy.?

?Likes Potion! Haha. I don’t know who named this but it’s too funny. I’m not trying to be disrespectful. I genuinely like the name!?

?Let’s see if this potion is as good as its name.?

“Did we really have to decide on that name?”

?Junjin’s marketing experts said that this name would be the best for the consumers.?

Ji-Cheok wondered if the experts’ choice was the right one. He continued to watch the stream. He was afraid that the streamers would deliberately injure themselves to see his potion’s effects, but fortunately, they just turned on their stream right after fighting monsters, so that they could show the viewers the recovery process of the potion.

?Wow, look at this. I can actually see the wound being healed. Even for a D-grade potion, this is great! It might be a top-tier D-grade potion.?

?It’s so cheap! I don’t get how potions can be this cheap. Is this even legal??

?Do you guys see this? This is not fake. Other Hunters will say the same thing. You see the authenticity mark on the bottle??

One by one, consumers were mesmerized by Ji-Cheok’s new potion. After completely breaking the potion market, people started to get confused about what was real. They had always thought that potions were expensive and that was why health insurance didn’t cover them. If someone tried to commit suicide and survived, they would have to commit suicide once more because of the debt they would be in from buying potions. After all, potions weren’t omnipotent. If one bottle didn’t heal them, they had to buy dozens. If they were in an accident that required a month of hospitalization, it was simpler to just end their life.

-Umji is so hot these days.

-Hunter Um Ji-Cheok saved me in Paji. Since it’s a potion made by him, it’s bound to be good!

-Is Umji doing some kind of charity work? How can a potion be less than 800,000 won?

?I work in the industry, and if you want to make a D-grade potion in a factory, the material cost is one or two hundred thousand…

?And they sell it for two million won? Such a scam….

?There’s also factory establishment cost, labor cost, and investment cost.

?Well, Umji does that all by himself~

-There is a video where Um Ji-Cheok said he would make and supply cheap potions after the Paju incident.

The reaction from the viewers was good enough, but there were still fights in the comments. Still, the response was much better than before.

?This is really good, Master. Your image in the industry is also good. There is a meme going around with your head attached to a Tibetan fox with the phrase ‘Best?Discount?Ever!’?

‘Uh… Is that a good thing?’

?Alright, Master. The time has come. It is time to use the [Statue of the God of War].?

“Yupp. It is time.”

Potion business was now more or less on the right track. A surprise attack might come out of nowhere, but that was something to think about when that time came. In the end, the important thing was that it was out of his hands for now. If it was something important, he knew that Ji-Han would take care of it.

‘Now is the time to grow as a cultivator.’

Ji-Cheok looked at the [Statue of the God of War] that was in front of him.

“First, I will use this to get training instruction from the God of War, then I will use the [Training Space for the God of War] to continue training by myself. Okay. Let’s give it a try.”

He put his hand on the statue.

[Would you like to use the [Statue of the God of War]?]

[Y/N]

He put his finger on the Y.

The statue began to light up. The light grew stronger, and covered everything around him. Eventually, when the light went away, he realized he was sitting in a completely different space than his training room in his home. There was a blue sky with clouds floating above his head. The floor was made of stone slabs, and the whole place looked like an ancient circular arena. It appeared that the item had basically teleported him right in the center of the arena.

As he stood up, he saw a tall, handsome man standing in front of him. His jawline was sharp and he was very tall, around 190 to 195 centimeters. In addition, his muscles reminded Ji-Cheok of his teammate tank, Jung Ji-Byeok, and the definition of his muscles was outstanding. He resembled a Greek statue.

His outfit, however, was a bit strange. He was wearing sweatpants, three-stripe slippers, and a plain black T-shirt. Aside from his physique and immaculate beauty, he looked like a deadbeat dude that Ji-Cheok had seen around his neighborhood.

The man randomly scratched his butt with his big hand.

Was this really the God of War?

‘I don’t believe it.’

But then, the man started to talk.

“My appearance is generated after reading your subconscious. There is nothing strange about it.”

‘Did he just read my mind?’

“Who do you think I am? I can read the thoughts of you mere mortals even under restrictions, so try not to make a fuss about it.”

‘So, was it his will to scratch his ass? Or is it just my fantasy?’

“Ah, for that, I did scratch my ass. It’s been a long time since I‘ve manifested as a human body instead of an abstraction.”

The God of War started to do his stretching routine. Well, Ji-Cheok could only call what he was doing ‘stretching’, but in fact, what the God of War was doing was scratching his heels with his slippers, then scratching his head and sniffing his hands.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Um Ji-Cheok. I came here to get trained by the God of War.”

Since the person in front of him was the God of War, it wouldn’t hurt to be polite.

“You are a well-behaved boy. I am the God of War. That is my being and my name. From now on, you will continue to call me the God of War.”

“Yes, sir.”

As he reached out in the air, a hair tie came out of thin air. This time, it wasn’t a modern hair tie, but an old-fashioned hair tie made of an antique material.

“Okay… So it looks like you have mastered the [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art]. Also sword and shield techniques, [Mysterious Swords: White Night, Dark Night], and [Wind and Cloud Steps]... It’s hotchpotch of skills,” the God of War said while tying his hair.

The God of War looked Ji-Cheok up and down, clicking his tongue. After a while, he looked at his own attire and replied, “My current appearance is a reflection of your cultivation state. It’s literally just a mixture of random skills.”

‘I guess he thought he would come out dressed in a uniform or something. What’s wrong with sweatpants? It looks comfortable.’

“I had to learn these skills… Is that that bad?” Ji-Cheok asked.

“Definitely not good. If you learn many skills before mastering one, your cultivation will not end up right. Thanks to the power of the System in your world, you are able to harmonize your skills, but that is the limit…”

He looked at Ji-Cheok thoughtfully, then spoke again.

“However, it is strange. You have the [Heaven Martial Body], so how did you become like this? If you have the [Heaven Martial Body], even if you didn’t have a proper teacher, the direction of your cultivation should have been correct… Oh… I see, you’ve acquired the [Heaven Martial Body] recently. It looks like you did it using the power of the System. Hm… Interesting.”

Ji-Cheok got goosebumps. The man was analyzing Ji-Cheok as if dissecting him with his eyes.

‘Is this the power of the God of War?’

1. The meaning of Hyeja came from a lunch box named after a celebrity, Kim Hyeja, which was sold a lot in convenience stores. This lunch box was inexpensive, but it was hearty and delicious. Eventually, people came to associate this lunch box with cost-effectiveness.