Leveling Up Alone

Splash… Splash…

Inside the bath of a famous spa, Department Head Jung, who was a delinquent out-of-office worker, was relaxing in pure bliss. He had used his company card to treat himself to a relaxing hot bath at a famous spa. He moaned in satisfaction, “Yeah, that never fails to hit the spot.”

He had originally wanted to go to a more expensive massage parlor, but lately, the company’s atmosphere had been on the rocks. That was why the best he could do to not stick out like a sore thumb at the moment was to go to a cheaper spa during office hours.

“Tsk… I was looking forward to seeing that voluptuous new face that they said was coming in today. That damn Hunter had to intervene and ruin everything… What a damn mess this is...” he grumbled with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Department Head Jung was not happy with how things were going. There were not a lot of opportunities for him to claim first dibs on the new faces who came into the brothel he frequented, which was known for having a high standard and services, but his hope and expectations were dashed when that good for nothing Hunter stepped in and ruined the perfect plan he had created. Now, he had to be content lounging in the spa hot tub instead of enjoying a different place with added services that he felt he was deserving of.

“I don’t care if it’s that pesky Hunter. I will finish him and the Sung-Jin Factory together all at once,” he said with a sinister look on his face.

Splash…! Splash…!

He smacked the water's surface just as he usually did. Fortunately, he was the only male consumer inside the bath since it was still early in the morning on a weekday.[1]

He was enjoying his hot bath at the spa as per usual when a chill suddenly went down his spine. A cold chill filled the entire spa, and goosebumps started to rise all over his body.

“Aaaahk!” Department Head Jung screamed the moment he opened his eyes. A black figure was standing in front of him, and it was difficult to tell if the figure had black skin or if it was simply a figure made out of darkness itself.

The black figure only had a pair of red eyes, which contrasted with its body. It was what one would normally call a…

“D-Demon!” Department Head Jung screamed. Upon seeing the demon, he immediately recognized what it was from the horns on its head, which was a stereotypical description of what a demon looked like.

[Look into my eyes,] the demon said as it opened its red mouth.

“Heok!” Department Head Jung screamed. He had heard stories of how making eye contact with a demon would take the person’s soul away, and that was why he desperately tried not to make eye contact with the demon in front of him.

The shadow demon might be a low-grade demon, but it was more than capable enough to deal with a human with no capabilities to use mana.

Department Head Jung had no choice but to make eye contact with the demon eventually, since the demon’s pressure forcefully made him look at its eyes. The moment he locked eyes with the demon, he gasped loudly, “Heok!”

[Weakness,] the Shadow Demon cast.

This was the second Shadow Demon summoned by Han-Yeol, and the demon had learned a curse skill called Weakness, unlike the first Shadow Demon which had learned Shadow Concealment instead.

The Shadow Demon commanded Department Head Jung to look into its eyes, but this was actually something that Han-Yeol had commanded the demon to do.

Weakness was a skill that could be cast on a target as many times as the caster wanted. This was as long as the target was near, and Han-Yeol had commanded the Shadow Demon to cast this skill on Department Head Jung first since he wanted to amplify the fear that the man felt.

“M-My body…” Department Head Jung muttered as he continued to stare at the demon.

[You… Will… Die… Slowly…] the Shadow Demon said ominously.

“F-Forgive me, please s-spare me,” Department Head Jung begged pitifully.

[Kuhaha!] The Shadow Demon let out a wicked laugh before it slowly disappeared.

“N-No, please don’t!” Department Head Jung screamed.

Splash!

Department Head Jung tried to hold on to the disappearing Shadow Demon, but his physical body was already in a weakened state because of the Weakness curse the demon had cast on him. He fell forward when his weakened body could not handle his sudden movements.

“H-How can this be?” Department Head Jung muttered in disbelief. He was devastated that his body did not feel like his own and that he had been cursed by a demon.

‘I-I got cursed, and to make matters worse, it was done by a demon…’ Department Head Jung thought as he despaired.

Han-Yeol watched from the dressing room as he looked at the despair on Department Head Jung’s face before leaving the place. There was no reason for Han-Yeol to show himself and attract attention since it was a weekday morning and there were no other male patrons in the spa.

‘This should be enough of a warning to him,’ Han-Yeol thought.

To be honest, Han-Yeol had wanted to kill Department Head Jung for sending the killers after him, but he had refrained from taking such a drastic action since the other party was a large corporation capable of somehow twisting things to turn the situation in their favor. Still, he had decided to send a stern warning since they could send another batch of killers to come and make an attempt on his life in the future, and that was the reason for him doing what he did today.

He was frustrated at himself for being able to retaliate by only this much, and he felt how powerless he was after this incident since he was now more aware of how the world worked. With a bitter taste in his mouth, he thought, ‘This time, it ended with a simple Weakness curse, but that won’t be all the next time.’

It was not easy for Han-Yeol to spare the life of somebody who had tried to kill him since he was someone who bore grudges and had to pay them back an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

‘But of all the people who would want to take over Sung-Jin Factory…’ Han-Yeol thought as he felt a migraine slowly creeping in. Things were much more complicated than he had expected because the corporation that tried to take over the Sung-Jin Factory was a much bigger entity than he had initially thought it would be.

Han-Yeol went back to the factory after taking care of the killers and asked the Sung-Jin Factory’s manager to find out the culprit behind the assassination attempt on him, and he could not help but grimace the moment he heard the name that came out from the manager’s mouth since they were quite a big shot in this industry. He thought, ‘Ugh… What should I do? I can’t just ignore this issue… I can't do that to Sung-Jin.’

Han-Yeol would have distanced himself from this issue if Sung-Jin was just another friend, since his opponent was not just another neighborhood delinquent, but he had to stick it out since Sung-Jin was the friend who had been by his side and had helped him out when he had a rough time during his school days. There was no way he could turn a blind eye when his friend was in trouble.

‘Looks like I have no other choice but to power level from now on,’ he thought.

Han-Yeol was sitting outside when he saw Department Head Jung, who was under the Weakness curse, pass by.

“Ugh… Ugh…” Department Head Jung moaned while staggering. He groaned when his legs almost gave out, “Euk…!”

He was having a hard time walking because of the curse, and Han-Yeol even saw tears welling up in Department Head Jung’s eyes.

‘Well, I would have felt horrible for what I did, but he should know that no matter how many tears he shed, there were many more tears that have been shed because of him,’ Han-Yeol thought as there was not an ounce of pity in his heart.

This was because Han-Yeol knew to some extent the tyranny of the large corporation that Department Head Jung worked for, and he knew even when he had been working as a Porter that this specific large corporation was the number one entity that people did not want to be involved with. In fact, this corporation was growing quite rapidly and was very successful.

‘Serves you right,’ Han-Yeol thought. He did not expect the skill to be this useful and effective when the Shadow Demon had learned the Weakness curse, but he changed his mind after seeing the skill’s effect on Department Head Jung.

Han-Yeol used Jump and jumped into the air.

“Oh, it’s a hunter,” a passerby said.

“Wow, I’m jealous,” the person next to him said.

The average person would look at Han-Yeol right now and be green with envy just because of the fact that he was a Hunter.

***

Time passed and tomorrow soon came, and there were no reports of two bodies being found on the news. Noticing that, Han-Yeol thought, ‘Well, I guess it’s because killers are a subject of elimination from the Hunters’ Association.’

It was highly likely that someone had found the body and had reported it, and the police had been called, and the police must have also reported it to the association thinking that the bodies were Hunters since the police had to report to the Hunter’s Association whenever a Hunter's body was found.

‘From what I know it is a common policy of the association to dispose of the killers quietly,’ Han-Yeol thought. This was something he had found out by chance while he had been working as a Porter.

‘Executive Director Kwon…’ Han-Yeol muttered inwardly. His small revenge incident made Department Head Jung incapable of having a normal life, but he knew all too well that Executive Director Kwon was the one pulling the strings from behind. He thought, ‘They said he was the third son of the TK Group.’

He discovered that TK Chemicals was the company aiming to take over Sung-Jin Factory, and it was an affiliate of the entity in charge of manufacturing anything related to mana stones under TK Group.

Han-Yeol was still too weak and lacking to directly challenge the TK Group to a fight, but he planned to challenge them in the near future when he was strong enough to not have to worry about any killers being sent after him.

‘An individual can’t continue to get pushed around by a corporation, right?’ he thought.

Ring…! Ring…! Ring…! Ring…!

Han-Yeol’s phone rang.

‘Hmm…? Who is it?’ Han-Yeol thought before he looked at his phone to see who was calling him.

[Sung-Jin]

The phone screen showed the name of his hardworking friend, and of course, Han-Yeol answered the phone, “Hey, Sung-Jin.”

[Hey!] Sung-Jin shouted from the other end of the line.

The sudden loud noise coming from the smartphone made Han-Yeol grimace, since his hearing became more sensitive upon awakening as a Hunter. It was so loud that even Han-Yeol, who did not usually react to anything, jumped up in surprise. He yelled back even louder, “What?! Why are you shouting so early in the morning?!”

However, Sung-Jin seemed to not care about it.

Han-Yeol, who had spent most of his school days fighting or being in a brawl, was more hot-headed than the studious Sung-Jin, who had been an honor student and a role model.

[Hey, are you a Hunter?] Sung-Jin asked directly, just like how a man should be.

“Huh? Did I not tell you?” Han-Yeol replied. He obviously knew that he did not tell Sung-Jin, but he wanted to further annoy his friend by feigning ignorance.

[You crazy bastard! You should’ve told me earlier! Why did I have to hear from my father that you are a Hunter?] Sung-Jin shouted in annoyance.

“Well, how does it feel to hear that your friend is a Hunter? Does it make you feel proud?” Han-Yeol said jokingly.

[You crazy bastard…] Sung-Jin muttered. His voice was full of envy as opposed to the words that came out of his mouth.

In fact, it was a completely normal reaction. Why would it not be? Hunters were the object of envy and it was the most sought-after job for most men of their age. A Hunter got to look cool, become stronger, and most importantly, become rich. It was basically the best job that could provide what all men ever dreamed of.

It was possible for any Hunter to earn more than a sports superstar as long as they managed to awaken as a Hunter. In fact, an E Rank Hunter, which was not that high ranked among the Hunters, could earn hundreds of millions of won annually as long as they hunted diligently.

“So, is that why you called?” Han-Yeol asked.

[No, you crazy bastard, come out, let's have a drink.] Sung-Jin replied.

“Now?” Han-Yeol muttered in surprise as he looked out of his window. The sun had just risen, and it was still so early that even the birds seemed to be still fast asleep as they were nowhere in sight.

[Come on, man, let’s have a morning drink. It has been a while since we had a drink in the morning,] Sung-Jin said.

“You crazy bastard… Hey, are you not going to work?” Han-Yeol asked worriedly. He was perplexed when the guy that dressed up in a suit and worked at a bank was asking him for a drink so early in the morning.

[I quit,] Sung-Jin replied.

“What? Why?” Han-Yeol asked.

‘Is he going to go help his father?’ Han-Yeol thought. He thought that perhaps Sung-Jin came to realize a lot of things from the recent events.

[I took this opportunity to apply to become a Porter,] Sung-Jin said.

“What…?” Han-Yeol muttered in disbelief as he was startled by what Sung-Jin said.

Han-Yeol had heard stories of men with nice decent jobs quitting and becoming Porters. He always found it ridiculous that some people would risk their comfortable high-paying job to work as a Porter, but it seemed all the more absurd now that someone he personally knew had made the exact same decision for himself.

There were two types of Porters in this world.

Most people who chose to become a Porter were from poor backgrounds and they aspired to become Hunters as they did not have any special skills or talents that they could use to make a living, and they would choose to risk themselves and their lives to make it since that was the only thing they had in the first place.

The other group would be the Elite Porters, those who had been trained physically and in extreme survival since they were very young and were aiming to become a full-fledged Hunter one day.

It was rare for anyone who had a normal, stable, and well-paying job to suddenly quit one day and say ‘I’m going to become a Porter!’. There were very few cases of people doing this, and the statistics speak for themselves.

These were the people who could be called the one percentile, which in this case, was nothing more than a minority of rare cases.

“Are…you sure that you can handle it…?” Han-Yeol asked worriedly. He did not want to nag Sung-Jin about his decision on becoming a Porter, since he felt that he would be overstepping his boundaries if he meddled in his decision by telling him things like how difficult the job could be or how comfortable and safe it would be to continue working as a banker.

In fact, it was not really Han-Yeol’s style to meddle in other people’s affairs in the first place.

[I have to,] Sung-Jin replied calmly, showing his determination on the matter.

“Did you tell your father about this?” Han-Yeol asked.

[Yeah… He strongly objected, but I’ll have to keep trying and convince him,] Sung-Jin replied.

“Where do you want to meet up?” Han-Yeol asked.

[Where else can we meet aside from the usual place?] Sung-Jin replied.

“Alright,” Han-Yeol said before he hung up.

Beep!

He hung up after setting the time and location for the meeting with Sung-Jin before he made his way out.

There were not a lot of people outside as it was still early in the morning on a weekday.

Ring! Ring!

“Welcome… Oh? Han-Yeol, what brings you here so early in the morning?” the pub owner asked.

“Sung-Jin wanted to have a drink early in the morning,” Han-Yeol replied.

“You boys aren’t that young anymore, you need to take care of your bodies. I know that it’s going to be a loss for me if I tell you not to drink, but I don't think daytime drinking is a good idea,” the pub owner said.

“Well, it wasn't me who wanted to drink,” Han-Yeol shrugged his shoulders and replied with a smirk. Then, he ordered, “Give us the usual please.”

“Okay, fine,” the pub owner replied.

Han-Yeol used to drop by and secretly drink alcohol when he was in high school. It was the perfect place to skip school and kill time since this place also served breakfast menus, and since the shop owner was a former gangster, it was a place where loyalty was more important than the law.

He opened a bottle of Soju and began drinking when the food he ordered was served.

Ring! Ring!

“Hello, boss,” Sung-Jin greeted as he came into the pub.

1. Splashing the water in a public bath is frowned upon in Korean culture since it is considered rude to the other patrons. ☜