Leveling Up Alone

Creak… Clack!

Han-Yeol opened the door and got off.

“Welcome, Han-Yeol Hunter-nim. We have been expecting you.”

“Hello, Manager Han. How is the factory these days?” Han-Yeol greeted.

“We are doing fine, thanks to you,” said Manager Han.

It was embarrassing that an outsider would ask about the factory’s state, but it could not be helped because of their current situation. That was why they did not have the luxury to feel shame or anything at the moment despite the embarrassing situation.

Manager Han glanced slightly at the truck’s compartment. When he saw what was inside the truck, he was surprised and asked while stuttering, “Huh? T-Those are?”

“Oh, I brought a different kind of monster today. I tried hunting the Crazy Cows today. I cut out the bones, horns, and tendons, and collected about 2.5 tons worth of their parts,” Han-Yeol said.

“S-Something this valuable…” the Manager stuttered.

Even though the Crazy Cow’s mana stone was not that high quality, their horns, tendons, and skull fetched quite a hefty price tag.

However, the factory manager was most shocked by the fact that the two-and-a-half tons did not include the Crazy Cows’ flesh, muscles, and organs. The weight purely included the valuable body parts extracted from the monster. Hence, if you considered the value of having only two and a half tons worth of those valuable parts then the factory manager’s was absolutely normal.

These types of materials were good to have but not that important for larger, more established factories, but these were like a ray of light from the sky for a small factory like the Sung-Jin Factory.

‘I knew that you would like it,’ Han-Yeol proudly thought.

This was all within Han-Yeol’s calculations. Based on his previous experience as a porter for four years, he had tried to think which monster would be required by a small factory in their current predicament, and the answer that he came up with was the Crazy Cow.

“A-Are you selling all of these?” Manager Han asked. He could run the factory for two months with these materials alone, and he could even export these at a high price.

All of Sung-Jin Factory’s domestic distribution channels were blocked and the only option that the factory had was to export overseas. However, they could not export these directly overseas because of some pressure from the customs department. All they could do right now was to sell these to an American company incorporated in South Korea.

Luckily enough, that company recently made an inquiry to Sung-Jin Factory if it was possible for the factory to manufacture weapons and armor out of Crazy Cow materials with their technology and supply these manufactured products to them.

Whether it was a stroke of luck or just pure coincidence, Han-Yeol then appeared with the Crazy Cow materials just in time, since Manager Han was about to turn down the offer from the American company since the factory had no way to source the materials in South Korea.

“Of course, I brought them here to sell them. You can buy everything, right?” said Han-Yeol.

“O-Of course!” Manager Han exclaimed as he quickly pulled out his smartphone and made a phone call. He spoke quickly into his smartphone. “Yes, sir. Yes, yes, Han-Yeol Hunter-nim brought a total of 2.5 tons of Crazy Cow skulls, horns, and tendons. Yes, yes, yes, sir, I understand.”

Manager Han immediately instructed the factory employees to drive the truck to the factory to weigh the haul. At his order, the factory employees immediately took the wheel from Yoo-Bi and did as they were instructed.

“Oppa, what is going on?” Yoo-Bi asked. She was confused by the factory workers busily working.

“I have no idea. They must have urgently needed those materials from the Crazy Cow,” Han-Yeol replied. He also had no idea what was going on, and the only reason he had brought the materials from the Crazy Cow was simply because of the fact that these were valuable materials.

A moment later, an employee came running in a hurry while shouting, “Manager-nim!”

“So, did you finish weighing the materials?” Manager Han asked the employee.

“Yes, the materials weighed 2.51 tons,” the employee answered.

“Good, so when will the estimates for the materials be ready?” Manager Han asked.

“It should not take that long since there are only three products to deal with. I think I can get the estimates in about two hours,” the employee replied.

“I see…” Manager Han muttered before he turned to Han-Yeol and said, “Han-Yeol Hunter-nim, I am told that the estimate will be ready in two hours…”

Most of the inexpensive monster corpses were instantly calculated as a lump sum to reduce hassle, but the high-value materials from monsters were all separately classified into individual products and priced according to the weight of each part.

It would usually take half a day to just finish weighing monster parts that were made up of seven to eleven materials, but it only took two hours to finish the entire process for what Han-Yeol had brought since there were only three materials and he had already done the trimming for the unnecessary parts.

“We will go and grab a bite, then come back, if that is the case,” Han-Yeol said.

“Is that alright with you?” Manager Han asked.

“Yes, that is not a problem at all,” Han-Yeol answered.

“I know a delicious restaurant nearby, I will ask one of my employees to guide you,” Manager Han said.

“No, you don’t have to trouble yourself. I already looked up a place online,” Han-Yeol replied.

Han-Yeol originally planned to go out to eat with Yoo-bi after finishing the transaction, but it looked like they had to go and eat a little bit earlier than planned.

“I understand. Then I shall see you in two hours,” Manager Han said.

“Alright then.” Han-Yeol nodded at the manager and left the factory.

“Oppa, are you buying me food?” Yoo-Bi asked.

“Yeah, and I also have to apologize to you as well,” Han-Yeol said. He felt bad that Yoo-Bi hadn’t been able to attack even once in today’s hunt, and he felt apologetic about it since he would never want to go on a hunt with that hunter ever again if that had happened to him.

“I already told you that it was alright…” Yoo-Bi muttered in response. Deep inside, however, she was actually looking forward to having a meal with Han-Yeol that he paid for.

When they got into the RV truck and were driving to the restaurant, they turned into a secluded spot on the way. This street was once quite lively with various small and medium factories in the past, but all of them had closed down after not being able to withstand the pressure the large corporations had mounted on them.

‘Hmm?’ Han-Yeol thought when something caught his attention.

Swoooosh… Kabooom!

Something suddenly flew toward their RV truck and exploded, causing the truck to flip upside down and the truck’s roof skidded across the ground. The truck was set ablaze by a huge ball of fire so fierce that the fire was seemingly dead set on not letting anything escape from its grasp alive.

Step… Step…

Two figures appeared from a distance with a great view of the blazing wreckage. One of them was a yellow-haired man, who was wearing a white shirt, black suit, and black sunglasses.

“What? That’s it?” the yellow-haired man said.

“Don’t let your guard down… The opponent is still a Hunter,” the other figure, who was a short woman with the same outfit and red hair, said.

The yellow-haired man was holding a rocket launcher, as if publicly advertising that he was the main culprit behind the explosion. He laughed out loud. “Kekeke! Nobody, not even a Hunter, can survive after being hit by my rocket containing my mana!”

“You idiot! You didn't hit him! You only hit his truck despite using that much explosive power. A Hunter who’s good at handling mana can withstand that force as long as they are able to react to it,” the red-haired woman scolded the man.

“Kekekek! He is free to come crawling out! I will just rip his limbs off instead then!” the yellow-haired man shouted while his sadistic laugh reverberated across the street full of abandoned factories.

***

Fwaaa…!

“Ugh!” Han-Yeol groaned.

Han-Yeol managed to survive the explosion even though everything had happened so suddenly and he had been caught off guard. He had barely managed to react in time to activate Mana Shield and protect Yoo-Bi because Sixth Sense had only kicked in just a split second before the explosion.

He could have avoided and gotten out of danger as soon as possible if he had been alone, but he had no choice but to tank the damage to protect Yoo-Bi.

Han-Yeol and Yoo-Bi were currently within the barrier he had created after combining Mana Shield and Mana Control. He started to process what just happened when things calmed down a little, ‘Damn it… Now there are killers coming after me…’

He had no idea whether the attackers were professional killers or just a person carrying out a job, but if there was one thing that he could be certain of right now, it would be the fact that they were after him.

Sensing the two figures loitering around the truck trying to check if he was dead or alive, Han-Yeol wondered, ‘Are they sent by the large corporations?’

Although he could only speculate, he was certain that if someone was willing to openly attack him at this time and place then it was most likely that someone was trying to get back at him for previously chasing those gangsters away from the factory. On top of that, they were probably trying to get rid of the annoying pesky little Hunter who was getting in the way of their plans by sending these killers.

‘Is it possible for me to win against them…?’ Han-Yeol wondered.

There was no way for him to grasp his opponent's abilities as of now, so it was difficult for him to judge if he would be able to win against them or not.

‘They would have sent killers who can easily dispose of an E rank Hunter if they were smart enough…’ he thought.

Han-Yeol came to this conclusion because of the fact that his last rank update on the Hunters’ Association database had him listed as an E Rank Hunter. Thus, he expected them to know that much, since they probably had access to that information. On top of that, they had probably seen all of the combat records registered under his name as well.

‘This means that they have only seen records of me hunting trolls,’ he thought.

He had been hunting alone most of the time after the Troll hunt, so that was probably the only record they had available to them to gauge his strength.

‘This freaking sucks though…’ Han-Yeol cursed inwardly.He had been prepared for the large corporations to retaliate at some point, but he did not expect them to come at him this aggressively.

Just then…

Pat!

The two people jumped on the ruined truck and looked down into it.

“What the hell? Why are you hiding in here like a rat if you are still alive? That's not fun, bro,” the yellow-haired man said.

“Keuk! Damn it,” Han-Yeol muttered under his breath.

“See? I told you Hunters don’t die so easily, right?” the red-haired woman said.

“They are just Hunters in the end!” the yellow-haired man shouted before he aimed his rocket launcher at Han-Yeol.

Clack!

“There’s nothing a direct hit won’t be able to solve!” the yellow-haired man shouted as he pulled the trigger.

Fwaaa… Bam!

Han-Yeol was able to evade the rocket after using Jumping immediately.

“Where do you think you're going?” the red-haired woman said. She suddenly appeared next to Han-Yeol as if to emphasize that she was working with the man as a team. She was holding a dagger in a reverse grip, and the weapon was coated with a purple liquid.

‘That’s poison!’ Han-Yeol recognized it immediately. He could instinctively tell that it was poison even though he did not have much knowledge about poisons. Then, he instantly activated his skill. ‘Shield Bash!’

Bam!

“Tsk!” the red-haired woman clicked her tongue. She did not get the opportunity to use her poison-laced dagger, since Han-Yeol reacted so fast by instantly using Force Shield and following it up with Shield Bash to push her away from him.

Tap! Tadak!

The three of them were now in a stand-off.

“Hey, you're pretty good bro. I'm sure the commission said you were an E-rank Hunter, but you don't seem like an E Rank Hunter at all. I think you’re a C Rank based on your movements,“ the yellow-haired man said.

“I agree. I think we will have to revise the fee once we complete this task,” the red-haired woman added.

Han-Yeol had no room to relax while the two assassins were leisurely chatting with each other. That was because Yoo-Bi was unconscious in his arms. He thought, ‘I have no other choice…’

Shik!

Han-Yeol cut his fingertip and drew blood from it. Then, he muttered, “Summon Demon, Kajikar.”

The blood from Han-Yeol’s fingertips fell to the ground and created a pattern, and the Demon drill sergeant, Kajikar, whom he managed to successfully summon last time, appeared from the pattern.

Kajikar had the flushed red face of a drunk, and he did not have any presence at all as opposed to what Han-Yeol had expected. He exclaimed. [Hiccup, I’m getting drunk... W-What is this, Human? It’s not training time yet!]

“I-I apologize Kajikar-nim, but I am under attack right now. I cannot fight while protecting my comrade. May you please at least protect her even if you won’t participate in the battle?” Han-Yeol asked.

The contract he had with Kajikar stated that their relationship was going to be strictly about training, and there was nothing in the contract that mentioned anything about the demon having to assist him in combat.

That was why Han-Yeol came up with the idea to request Kajikar to protect Yoo-Bi, since he knew that the Shadow Demon was not going to be of much help. The demon did not possess enough intellect to think for itself.

[Hmm, that will be one hundred liters of expensive alcohol.] Kajikar stated his price.

The demon was not the typical closed-minded demon, so it was easy for Han-Yeol to have his request granted. After all, the demon was not going to be participating in combat at all and he was only going to have to protect the human his contractor had requested him to protect.

“That sounds good,” Han-Yeol replied.

[Hiccup! Alright then. Now go and fight to your heart’s content!] Kajikar exclaimed.

“Thank you,” Han-Yeol replied before he left Yoo-Bi beside Kajikar and walked toward the killers.

Shwiik…

“Well, well, that chain… I thought it was a decoration, but it turned out to be a weapon. Kekek! Fun, how fun! This is why I can’t stop being a killer! I’m already feeling hot from excitement!” the yellow-haired man yelled in excitement as he licked his lips.

“Calm down. He’s not an opponent you can beat by getting overexcited,” the red-haired woman said. She was composed, unlike the yellow-haired man who was about to blow up from excitement.

She could immediately tell that Han-Yeol was not going to be an easy opponent even though they had only clashed once. However, the possibility of the two of them losing to their target never crossed her mind at all.

The only thing that changed was the fact that the job had become a little bit more difficult than they expected it to be, and that they were going to get paid more because of that.

Whoosh…

As the wind blew and swept away the leaves on the ground, they stared at each other. The atmosphere slowly started to get tenser by the second.

“Hahaha! Die!!”

Just as expected, the yellow-haired man was the first one to attack. Once again, he fired the rocket launcher at Han-Yeol.

‘It’s that rocket launcher again… It’s a shame that I lost my rifle a while ago…’ Han-Yeol thought.

The M4A2 rifle had been destroyed in the truck explosion. It was a sturdy weapon specially manufactured to be used by Hunters, but the rocket that hit them was not an ordinary rocket but one infused with mana. In the end, the rifle ultimately got destroyed.

‘Jump!’ Han-Yeol used his skill.

Tak!

Han-Yeol jumped into the air and dodged the incoming rocket.

Whoosh!

The red-haired woman jumped into the air along with Han-Yeol, who expected her to do so. He thought, ‘Perhaps you’re expecting an opening, but not a chance in hell.’

It seemed that they planned to lay a trap for Han-Yeol to catch him off guard the moment he tried to run away from the yellow-haired man’s rockets, which packed quite a destructive power, but there was one thing that they had greatly miscalculated… Their abilities were not that superior compared to Han-Yeol, and neither were they stronger than him.

There was no reason for Han-Yeol to panic at the incoming rocket, since he had a cheat skill called Sixth Sense. Han-Yeol thought as he prepared to use Sword Breath to finish off his enemy, ‘I will finish you two in one shot.’

However…