Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 115: The Club (3)

Just as Han-Yeol was dreaming of the bright future ahead of him, he heard the electronic door lock beeping.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!?

Then, his father entered the house.

It was a sudden visit, but Han-Yeol had already spread his senses throughout the mansion, so he was already aware that his father was coming in. He wasn’t surprised at all.

Han-Yeol would have normally gotten up to greet his father, but he was simply too tired. This time, he only nodded to acknowledge his father’s presence.

His father could have reprimanded him for being impolite, but he knew very well how tired his son was these days. He had seen how famous his son had become recently, so he decided to be understanding this time.

“What is the matter, Father?” Han-Yeol asked.

He might be busy, but his father was quite busy as well.

They made sure to still spend time with each other no matter how busy they were, and his father had previously mentioned that his billiard business was doing quite well thanks to its strange concept and excellent service. His father had also mentioned that there were numerous investors recommending he expand his business into franchising.

His father had spent countless days contemplating whether he should expand into franchising or not before he finally decided he was going to do it. That was why he was quite busy these days preparing for that.

The fact that his father would come to him at this time slightly made Han-Yeol nervous. He wondered, ‘Did something happen…?’

“I saw you on the news, Han-Yeol.”

“Ahaha… You saw that?” Han-Yeol replied with an awkward laugh and scratched his head in embarrassment.

Aside from having been played live nationwide, the same news was being replayed quite often. It would have been strange if his father had not seen it yet.

‘But will Father come to see me just for something like this?’?Han-Yeol wondered.

Of course, a family member appearing on TV could be a cause for celebration in most households, but Han-Yeol knew very well that his father was not the type of person to come running just because his son had appeared on national television.

“Hmm… The ladies who appeared with you on TV look quite beautiful.”

‘Ah… I knew it…’?Han-Yeol sighed inwardly.

The fact that his son had become a Hunter and was earning a ridiculous sum of money or that his son had appeared on TV was not important to him. The only thing that he cared about was for his son to finally bring home a girl to marry.

Han-Yeol had no idea if his father wanted a grandchild or just wanted him to get married, but he was certain that his father had been longing for him to bring a girl home.

‘It’s not that I don’t want to grant your wish, father… but…’?

Han-Yeol tried his best to be a filial son after his father had fallen ill, and he tried his best to listen to whatever his father said. However, he did not want to date someone just to please his father. He had no qualms about having a fling, but he had no plans to seriously date someone for now.

“Father…”

“No, Han-Yeol. I can’t understand why you’re so against it. Did I ask you to get married right now? All I’m asking is for you to go out and get a girlfriend. Is that so difficult?”

“Ugh…”

The fact that his father was telling him to go get a girlfriend instead of forcing him to go on matchmaking dates was already quite open-minded and considerate of him. Noticing that his father was already making concessions, Han-Yeol could not simply shoot the whole idea down.

“Alright… I will try…”

“Oh, are you talking about those women you work with?”

“No! They are my colleagues. It is not good to mix personal stuff with work. Anyway, I will try hard to look for a girlfriend from now on.”

“Tsk…”?His father clicked his tongue in regret.

His father might be over fifty years old, but he still acted like a younger adult sometimes. Others might tell him off for not being able to act his age, but Han-Yeol respected his father nevertheless.

Han-Yeol was barely able to escape from his father’s nagging, which had initially been disguised as an innocent conversation, before Sung-Jin called him.

Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!?

Vrooom!

Han-Yeol immediately got dressed up and drove his van to the city. While driving, he grumbled inwardly, ‘Sigh…?I’m only twenty-nine years old, so what’s the rush? Can’t he just trust me?’

Han-Yeol might feel wronged for being rushed, but his father could not help worrying. After all, Han-Yeol had never brought home a girl in his twenty-nine years of life. However, Han-Yeol was oblivious to how his father felt and he continued to not have any interest in dating.

Of course, he did initially have some feelings for Yoo-Bi. However, he had given up even before having been able to confess to her as she had quickly put up a wall between them.

It seemed that it was going to take a while for Han-Yeol to graduate from being single since birth.

Han-Yeol reached Hongdae after driving for an hour and a half. As he headed toward where they had agreed to meet, he wondered to himself, ‘I wonder why Sung-Jin suddenly wanted to meet here instead of hyung-nim’s pub?’

Hyung-nim’s pub had been an important gathering spot for Han-Yeol and his friends during their high school days. It was wrong for high school kids to go to a pub, but the pub had been a very cozy place for them to gather.

This explained Han-Yeol’s surprise when Sung-Jin had chosen to meet at a bar in Hongdae instead of the nostalgic pub.

Ding!

Han-Yeol took the elevator up to the wine bar, and he was greeted by a familiar classic chime that was quite common in these kinds of places. He was soon greeted by the wine bar’s receptionist.

“Welcome, do you have a reservation?”

The receptionist had an average-looking face, but her figure was quite beautiful.

“Ah, can you check if there is a reservation under Park Sung-Jin?” Han-Yeol asked.

He was not sure if they had a reservation, but Sung-Jin had probably made one to have invited him to come all the way here.

The receptionist scanned through the list for a while before she said with a smile, “Ah, I found it. I will guide you to your seat.”

“Ah, okay.”

Clack! Clack!?

The receptionist led the way with Han-Yeol following her.

Han-Yeol could not help but have his gaze tracing the receptionist’s figure from behind. While admiring her figure, he thought, ‘Wow… Her body is like that of a Hollywood celebrity…’?

There was nothing amazing about the receptionist’s face, but her body was a work of art. She had an hourglass figure with beautiful hips and a bountiful chest. Her rather small waist was also accompanied by quite long legs. She would have been able to make it in the modeling industry if she had given it a try.

‘But why are all of the workers in the service industry so beautiful these days…?’?Han-Yeol wondered about the reason why he kept running into beautiful women these days.

Han-Yeol was soon guided to a cozy spot on the upper floor while his mind was occupied with all sorts of perverted thoughts.

The upper floor was an open space that exuded an even cozier and luxurious vibe compared to the lower floor. Feeling the cool breeze brush against his face, he thought in enjoyment, ‘Wow, the air is really refreshing up here.’

“Sung-Jin-nim is right over here,” said the receptionist.

Han-Yeol looked at where the receptionist was politely guiding him toward and saw Sung-Jin wearing a casual suit.

Sung-Jin raised his hand and greeted Han-Yeol as soon as he spotted him. “Hey, Han-Yeol!”

“Wow, Sung-Jin! You seem to be super busy these days, but you’re looking good!” Han-Yeol replied.

He felt glad to be seeing his friend after a long time. Having once cut off contact with his old friends, he now longed to spend more time with friends he was reconnecting with. At the moment, he could not help but feel frustrated that he was the one being cut off due to Sung-Jin being too busy with his own thing.

“You’re one to talk, you monster.”

“What do you mean ‘monster’? Please address me as an influencer.”

“Stop spouting bullshit from your mouth, will you?”

“Keke!”

Han-Yeol and Sung-Jin expressed their joy by throwing a bunch of childish jokes at each other. There was not a hint of awkwardness between them despite not having met for quite a while. After all, they were good friends.

“Let’s have a glass of wine for starters.”

“Sounds good.”

The two of them shared a bottle of wine while chatting away. They mostly talked about trivial stuff before moving on to the topic of Porters. The conversation flowed quite naturally as both of them had common interests in the topic.

Han-Yeol was now a Hunter. He was no longer a Porter but someone who hired Porters. Still, that did not mean he was not interested in anything related to the Porters these days.

‘I still grit my teeth and wake up in the middle of the night whenever I remember how much I suffered as a Porter…’?he grumbled inwardly.

His experience as a Porter had been a rather difficult one, and it seemed that the treatment of Porters had not improved even by the slightest bit.

The two of them continued chatting away. After all, it was probably quite difficult for friends, who were a Hunter and a Porter, to stop chatting about their work.

“Well, I managed to find a job through my contacts, so I am being treated pretty alright. But I do think that the treatment of those Porters who have no connections should improve. They are struggling quite badly. I am not experiencing it for myself, but the Porters without any connections are being treated so harshly that it makes me feel sick,” Sung-Jin said.

“I saw on the news that it’s getting difficult for smaller parties to find Porters these days. They said something about the Porter population declining while more and more people are Awakening.”

“I guess you saw that article too… I read that the number of people applying to be Porters is rapidly declining every year.”

“Haa…?I really wonder what will become of this country in the future…” Han-Yeol shook his head in frustration before taking a sip of his wine.

‘The country’s economy is going to collapse if the Porters disappear, but I wonder why the government fails to see the severity of it…?’?Han-Yeol could not help but wonder what the government was waiting for.

Han-Yeol had not been able to read much news these days as he had been quite busy. He also dedicated his days off to complete rest, so the information that he had was quite outdated. He generally preferred winding down and engaging in some fun hobbies instead of reading the news.

However, that did not mean that he completely stopped reading the news. This was why he did not miss the article regarding the decrease in Porters, which would become quite a serious problem.

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yeah, you are aware that the rift between normal people and Hunters is growing wider by the day, right? The only ones applying to become Porters these days are the children of Hunters while normal people are outright avoiding the profession as it’s degrading and dangerous. The normal people who apply tend to be those runaway kids, gangsters, criminals, and other social outcasts. To be honest, I actually think that is even bigger of a problem.”

“Hmm…” Han-Yeol furrowed his brow, realizing that things looked much grimmer than he first imagined them to be.

“It would be great if the Hunters’ Association could solve this issue…”

“Yeah, but I don’t think this is something we should concern ourselves with.”

Han-Yeol had no reason to solve this or even attempt to solve it. These kinds of social problems were best left to the government and association, and this was the precise reason that he paid so much in taxes, right?

The Hunters’ Association was probably doing its best to resolve this issue anyway. They were probably aware of the situation if someone like Sung-Jin was aware of it too.

“Hey, let’s stop talking about boring things and go to a club instead,” Sung-Jin said as he tried to drag Han-Yeol to a club.

“A club?” Han-Yeol muttered in response.

Unfortunately, Han-Yeol had never been to a club in his life. He not only had no reason to go there, but he also did not have anyone to go with in the first place. After all, not exuding a single ounce of manly charm back then had also made it quite difficult for him to go to a club alone.

‘Should I give it a try…?’?

Just as Han-Yeol pondered whether to accept the offer or not, Sung-Jin pulled him up from his seat and did not wait for him to respond. Sung-Jin exclaimed, “Now now, there’s a famous club in the basement of this building, so let’s go there! Go go go!”

“H-Hey! You called me here for this, right?! This was your plan all along!”

“You only noticed now?”

“Yeah, you frivolous bastard!”

“Oh, so you don’t want to? Should we just go home?”

“Who said anything about that?! Let’s go!”

“Keke! I knew it!”

Han-Yeol’s life was much more relaxed than it had been before, so he figured that going to the club to enjoy himself was not a bad idea.

Thinking about the club, a place where music, booze, and women gathered, Han-Yeol exclaimed inwardly, ‘The hottest and trendiest place in Korea is the clubs!’?

A club was a place where a man was bound to want to go at least once in his life; this was something a celebrity had said on TV.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!” Sung-Jin shouted in excitement at the thought of going to the club.

Meanwhile, Han-Yeol pretended he was being dragged along by his friend. In truth, he was looking forward to going to the club deep inside.