Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 80: Special Member of A Raid Party (1)

[W-What the hell is this?!]

[I-It’s a healing skill!]

[H-How does a combat Hunter have a healing skill… It can even detoxify poison!]

[T-This is impossible!]

The viewers on Han-Yeol’s channel went wild. Some viewers on his channel were avid viewers who have been watching Hunters’ channels for the past ten years.

.

Most of the Healers possessed all three skills related to healing, and there were some who possessed evasion or support skills on top of their healing skills.

The term ‘Battle Healer’ existed in Hunter terminology, but there were no actual Hunters who were capable of it. However, Han-Yeol just used a healing skill not only to heal himself but to detoxify the Land Stalker’s poison from his surroundings as well.

Yoo-Bi, who was watching over Han-Yeol, suddenly said, “Porters, Hunter-nim has detoxified the poison in his surroundings.”

“Yes, we will get to it at once!” the Porters replied as if they were new recruits at a boot camp. Han-Yeol’s overwhelming display of strength had silenced all doubts they had toward him.

Step… Step… Step…

Han-Yeol confidently walked over toward his party as he waved at the camera after finishing his hunt.

[A-Awesome!]

[He didn’t do anything, but he looks so damn cool!]

[T-This is really the start of a legend!]

[Current Viewers: 95,147]

No one knew if it was because word of his hunt had spread, but his viewership had explosively increased by the time Han-Yeol finished hunting the Land Stalkers.

“This is amazing, oppa!” Yoo-Bi exclaimed with a smile. She gave a thumbs up.

***

Han-Yeol and his manager, Yoo-Bi, successfully completed their week-long hunt that took place to showcase his abilities. Of course, they did not broadcast for twenty-four hours a day. The broadcast only lasted for four out of twelve hours, with Han-Yeol hunting in peace for the remaining eight hours.

Did that mean that the viewers were disgruntled with Han-Yeol only showing a third of his hunt? That was not the case at all. In fact, he was the main topic on the evening news and internet news, and he was also the most trending search keyword on the search engines of N Company and D Company.

The Hunter, Lee Han-Yeol, was finally making his presence known to the world. Some might call it his initial stroke of luck, but the viewer count for his channel remained at ninety thousand for the entire week, and this was a figure that Golem Mania TV could only dream of reaching even if they combined their entire viewer base.

The abrupt rise in viewers was caused by numerous viewers from other platforms rushing to Han-Yeol’s channel when news of his hunt had spread. However, Han-Yeol did not earn a lot from his channel since it was a free channel for now, and he did not place any ads in it as well.

Nevertheless, Han-Yeol still managed to earn quite a hefty sum just from hunting the Land Stalkers for the entire week, so it did not really bother him.

[12,210,200,000 Won]

This was the amount that Han-Yeol had earned after selling a week’s worth of mana stones and monster corpses. Of course, that amount was slightly reduced after he paid Yoo-Bi and the other Porters, but he still managed to earn more than a hundred billion won in a week.

Han-Yeol had no plans to make any money out of his channel.

‘Well, I won’t refuse any money that I earn after becoming a superstar,’?Han-Yeol thought.

Han-Yeol was not the type to refuse free money given to him, so he would be glad to accept any money thrown his way.

***

Tap… Tap… Tap… Tap… Tap…?

“Humm… hum… hum…”?Yoo-Bi hummed cheerfully while tapping away at her laptop.

She was sitting in a comfortable seat at a quiet café and working on her report paper for the Manager course she was taking at the Porter Department. She was already a manager, so she did not need to take any more special education or courses. However, she had already resolved to become the best manager out there, and that was why she was putting in the extra effort.

Frankly speaking, Yoo-Bi was now earning an hourly wage of 1.2 million won after becoming Han-Yeol’s personal manager. She did not need to work harder. In fact, the amount she had earned from a week of hunting the Land Stalkers was a whopping two hundred million won, and this amount was incomparably higher than an average manager’s wages of around two million won for a week’s work. Nevertheless, she still put in the effort time and time again to improve herself.

‘There was a rumor that my daily habits and work ethic could decide what kind of class I will get once I awaken,’?Yoo-Bi thought.

This was a theory that one scholar had come up with, and this theory was known as ‘Awakening Based on Habits’. Unfortunately, it was only a theory with no facts to back it up, and that was why it was not widely received by people.

However, Yoo-Bi wanted to believe in the theory. She was not confident to become as strong as Han-Yeol or be of any help to him even if she awakened now, and that was why she thought of making up for her lack of physical prowess by studying and growing her mind in hopes that it would compensate for her shortcomings.

“Ugh…?It’s too hard…” she groaned while stretching her arms.

She was doing her best to study something that was difficult for her age, and there were a lot of volumes to study, so it was inevitable for her to struggle with it. On top of that, she had to make up for her week-long absence by submitting a report. That was why her workload had doubled during this time.

On the other hand…

“Hummm… Hum… Hum…”?Han-Yeol leisurely hummed away while wearing sunglasses and lying comfortably on a soft couch with his legs up on the table. He was spending his time playing a game on the newly released HVR, which was a hyper realistic virtual reality game.

The HVR was a device that the user could connect to their smartphone and use. It could be used while the user was staying still, but the user would still feel like they were moving in real life thanks to the virtual reality device.

The HVR was an expensive device, but Han-Yeol was able to reserve one for himself and pay for it. Its price was now simply spare change to him.

While Han-Yeol was enjoying the game, the screen suddenly turned pitch black.

Beep…!

“Huh? What the heck?”?Han-Yeol muttered in surprise.

He took off the VR device and checked his phone to find an incoming call from a number he was not familiar with. He wondered, ‘Who’s this…?’

Han-Yeol tapped on his phone and answered the call. “Hello?”

[Ah, is this Lee Han-Yeol Hunter-nim’s phone by any chance?]

“Yes, that is correct, but how did you get my number?” Han-Yeol asked. He had no recollection of giving his phone number out to someone he did not personally know, and the only ones who knew of his phone number were his father, Sung-Jin, or the ones who he had some work with.

‘Is it a leak from someone I worked with…?’?he thought.

It was not that difficult to find someone else’s phone number in this digital age, and the only issue would be how fast they could find it and how much money they would put into finding it.

Han-Yeol thought about it for a moment and realized that there could have been various channels for his phone number to be leaked out. He thought, ‘Hmm… I will need separate phones for my work and personal life from now on.’

[Ah, my name is Paragon, and I am the leader of the Paragon Raid Party. I enjoyed watching your broadcast on your Level Up channel, and I wanted to ask if you would be interested to meet for a while,] the man on the other end of the line said.

“Paragon Raid Party?” Han-Yeol muttered in response.

[Yes, that is correct,] Paragon replied.

Han-Yeol grimaced as he tried to recall details about the Paragon Raid Party. It was a familiar name to him, but he could not recall much about them since they were not that big to start with… He decided to mute the call for a moment and ask Yoo-Bi when he could not recall anything about them.

“Yoo-Bi, what kind of a raid party is the Paragon Raid Party?” Han-Yeol asked.

Asking was the most convenient method if one had no idea what to do.

“Paragon Raid Party?” Yoo-Bi repeated the name.

“Yes,” Han-Yeol confirmed.

“The Paragon Raid Party… Hmm… They first established five years ago as a raid party, and they usually hunt in low level hunting grounds despite being called a raid party. Their leader died two years ago and Choi Tae-Wook, one of their new recruits, forcefully took over the party. They are now hunting at intermediate level hunting grounds after the takeover. There are plenty of rumors about them, but their overall impression in the industry is not that good. Some of the rumors that contributed to their infamy are that they purposely decimated three parties hunting and that they frequently used their Porters as bait. Of course, nothing has been proven since there was no proof of it,” Yoo-Bi explained.

“Ah, I remember them now,” Han-Yeol said.

He now remembered the stories he had heard about Paragon Raid Party when he had been working as a Porter. He still could not remember everything about them, but he remembered one thing for sure. It was a resolve he had made back then.

‘I told myself not to work for Paragon no matter what happens,’?Han-Yeol thought.

“Sorry, but I have no plans to work with your Paragon Raid Party,” Han-Yeol replied.

[Huh? Hey, isn’t it customary to at least meet and hear the other party out?] the man said.

“No, I am not that free of a person, and I have nothing to discuss with someone from a party that I have no intention of joining. I will be hanging up now since I am busy,” Han-Yeol said.

[Hey! W-Wait…!] the man shouted.

Beep!

Han-Yeol ended the call and tapped a few times to block the number. He then thought, ‘With what I offer, I can enter the best raid party with the best treatment. What the hell are they thinking, expecting me to join their dirty weak party? No way.’

He was thankful whenever any party had called him to work back when he had been a Porter, but he was now the hottest Hunter in all of South Korea.

Just as he was about to get rid of the sour taste in his mouth and was about to get back to his game, his phone started to ring again.

Ring…! Ring…! Ring…! Ring…!?

“Ugh… It must be another raid party…” he grumbled.

Han-Yeol had no plans to enter a party in this fashion. He was planning to officially put up a notice for his services with the Hunters’ Association and go through the due process to join a raid party, but it seemed that there were a few impatient ones who had scoured around for his contact details and were trying to poach him away before that.

Beep beep…

Han-Yeol no longer entertained any of the incoming calls and switched his phone off. He hated it when his plans got disrupted, and that was why he had no plans to entertain anyone regardless of what kind of offers they made.

“How dare they try to poach me away by dealing under the table,” Han-Yeol grumbled.

Clack…

Han-Yeol walked over to join Yoo-Bi and threw his phone on the table. Meanwhile, Yoo-Bi was eating a delicious and sweet strawberry parfait beside him.

“This is all because you, oppa. You caused too big of a scene. I initially had no idea, but you told me that the healing and chain skill you have is a big deal, right? Do you know how surprised I was when I did an in-depth research on your skill?” Yoo-Bi said.

“R-Really…?” Han-Yeol muttered in response.

“Yes, of course. I’ve worked only with you ever since I became a Porter, and all of my common sense about a Hunter has been set to you. I struggled so much just to adjust to how regular Hunters are!” Yoo-Bi said.

“Hahaha…” Han-Yeol laughed awkwardly while scratching his head in embarrassment. He was worried that he might have badly influenced Yoo-Bi in some way.

“Well, there’s nothing bad about it since I was able to see an even bigger world thanks to you, oppa,” Yoo-Bi added.

“Really?” Han-Yeol’s face brightened at Yoo-Bi’s words.

Just then, the waitress brought the rest of their order over and said, “The cheese smoothie and double blaster parfait you ordered are here.”

“Ah, thank you very much,” Han-Yeol said.

Han-Yeol and Yoo-Bi were currently occupying three tables in the café. They could be considered rude customers, but Han-Yeol had ordered a hundred twenty thousand won worth of coffee and desserts to prevent any talk about them.

The owner of the café did not glare at them or anything despite them occupying three tables for four hours. In fact, the owner was contemplating whether to provide them with some freebies to appeal to the two or not. They thought, ‘I won’t have to worry about my sales as long as I can turn those two into regular customers!’

This café was not located in the city and neither was it a famous brand, and that was why it had a hard time making sales. Its average daily sales were only around two hundred thousand won. Needless to say, the café owner could not help but see Han-Yeol and Yoo-Bi as a pile of cash when they had spent a hundred twenty thousand won in a matter of four hours.

On the other hand, Han-Yeol was currently thinking, ‘Ugh… This is so uncomfortable… I should get my own office as soon as possible or something…’

He was discontent with the fact that he had to hang out at a café instead of his own office, since he was uncomfortable here and wary of the other people looking over at him.

Han-Yeol was someone with an obsession of having his own place, after all.

***

Han-Yeol quickly went to the real estate agency as soon as he received the agency owner’s call.

“Welcome, Han-Yeol Hunter-nim,” the agency owner greeted while rubbing his hands.

“Have you found an office?” Han-Yeol asked.

“Of course! Fortunately, I was able to find a place that was willing to lease the entire floor, so it was not that difficult finding a place that suits your needs… But…” the agency owner said.

“But?” Han-Yeol said.

“They are asking a bit too much for the rental,” the agency owner said.

“How much are they asking?” Han-Yeol asked.

“The place used to have an internet café that did quite well, and it is located right in the center of Hongdae, surrounded by clubs, so there is a lot of foot traffic in the area. They are asking for a deposit of three hundred million won, monthly rent of thirteen million won, and maintenance fees of two million four hundred thousand every month,” the agency owner explained.

“Is it for the third, fourth, and fifth floor connected internally?” Han-Yeol asked.

“Yes, that is correct, Hunter-nim,” the agency owner replied.

“Let’s go and take a look,” Han-Yeol said.

“Huh? Ah, yes, certainly, Hunter-nim,” the agency owner said as he rubbed his hands together.

Han-Yeol hopped into the agency owner’s car, and they drove toward the building that the agency owner had mentioned just a while ago.