Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 99: The True Path to Wealth (1)

There were other people in the mall aside from Tayarana’s subordinates. There were people who were fans of Han-Yeol, who had become an overnight celebrity thanks to his Level-Up TV. There were fans of Mariam as well, surprisingly.

However, Han-Yeol had been left all alone to fend against not only his fans but even the fans of Tayarana and Mariam as well. After all, he was the only one without a bodyguard among the three of them.

Nobody dared to approach Han-Yeol when he had been shopping with them, but they saw an opportunity to ambush him when he was resting all alone on the bench. The fans approached him to get his autograph while not forgetting to ask a few questions regarding the goddess as well.

‘What am I? Her high priest?’?Han-Yeol grumbled as he could not help but feel that he was a servant of the goddess at this point.

The reason was that the fans were passionately asking things about Tayarana, and their passion was even hotter than the ones of religious fanatics. Of course, there were some who asked about Mariam as well, but most of the questions were focused solely on Tayarana.

In the end, after being chased around by the horde of fans, Han-Yeol was forced to seek refuge under the wings of Tayarana and Mariam once again.

[Oh, right. Han-Yeol.]

[Yes?]

[You are living in an apar… What was that again?]

Tayarana could not remember the word so she had to ask Mariam halfway through her sentence.

[Yes, the word you are looking for is ‘apartment’, Tayarana-nim,] Mariam replied.

[Thank you. Anyway, I heard you live in an apartment, is that right?]

[I have no idea where you heard that from, but yes, you are correct.]

[I see… Then, what is the area of that apart…ment you live in?]

[My apartment?]

[Yes, your apartment.]

Han-Yeol was confused, not understanding why Tayarana would ask something like that in the first place. He also did not understand what she meant by ‘area’. He wondered, ‘Is she talking about the apartment complex’s area…?’?

He tried to recall the complex’s area that he had heard from the realtor when he had purchased his apartment. He then said, [The area should be around 2,306 pyeong… That is around 7,600 square meters…]

[Hmm… That doesn’t sound too bad.]

Han-Yeol did not bother to correct Tayarana or anything as he did not particularly think his apartment was small. He only lived with his father, after all. However, he did not have enough space for his game console collection at his current apartment.

[Pardon me, Tayarana-nim,] Mariam interrupted.

[What is it, Mariam?]

[I believe that Han-Yeol-nim is referring to the entire area of the apartment complex where numerous people live and not his house’s area.]

[Huh? How can people live together in such a small space?] Tayarana tilted her head in confusion.

It was something unimaginable by her standards as she found the place too small for numerous people to share together.

[That is how it works here,] Mariam replied.

When Tayarana looked at him with a confused look on her face, Han-Yeol asked, [Wasn’t that the area you were asking about?]

[I believe Tayarana-nim was asking how big Han-Yeol-nim’s house was,] Mariam interrupted.

[Ah, you should’ve said so. My house is around thirty-eight pyeong. That’s around 125 square meters.]

[…]

When Tayarana’s face stiffened at his response, Han-Yeol suddenly felt nervous. ‘Did I say something wrong…?’?

Han-Yeol knew that he was on friendly terms with Tayarana since she allowed it, but she was a Hunter on an entirely different level compared to him. In short, he might act comfortably around her, but that did not mean that he could be too comfortable with her. That was the reason why he could not help but feel nervous after seeing her expression just now.

He would have normally felt offended after seeing someone react this way toward him, but he could not help but be on his toes since the other person was Tayarana.

Just as Han-Yeol was still feeling nervous, Tayarana walked toward him and gently grabbed both of his hands.

[T-Tara?!] Han-Yeol exclaimed in surprise.

However, Tayarana did not say anything as she quietly looked at him with sadness in her eyes.

“Heok!”

“What in the world?!”

Murmur… Murmur…?

The people not too far away from the trio were able to witness the goddess holding the Korean Hunter’s hands. They wanted to capture this moment and post it on their social media accounts to get likes, but they knew very well that they were going to get kicked out and blacklisted from the mall if they so much as took out something that looked remotely similar to a camera.

Besides, Mariam was able to intercept anyone trying to capture this moment even if they braved the risks of being kicked out and blacklisted from the mall.

“Awesome…”

“Is that for real? Did the goddess-nim really grab Han-Yeol Hunter’s hands first?”

“Wow… I’m so jealous…”

The people could not help but be extremely jealous of Han-Yeol. They were forced to only watch the goddess from a distance, but he was walking alongside her, chatting with her, and even holding her hands right now.

‘Should I try to become a Hunter…?’

‘Will I be able to hold the goddess’ hands if I become a Hunter too…?’

‘I heard Lee Han-Yeol was a pathetic poor guy before he awakened as a Hunter…’

Han-Yeol unintentionally inspired the people around him to become a Hunter. However, he had no time to care what the people around him thought as he was too surprised by Tayarana’s sudden action.

[W-What’s wrong, Tara?]

[I’m sorry…]

[Huh…?] Han-Yeol wondered what Tayarana was apologizing for all of a sudden.

[I had no idea that you were living in the slums… I was too complacent… I will be more mindful of your situation next time…]

[W-What…?]

‘Why is she talking about the slums all of a sudden?!’ Han-Yeol exclaimed inwardly in confusion.

Not understanding why Tayarana would suddenly think of something like that, Han-Yeol looked at Mariam with a pleading gaze. He needed help, and he was certain that Mariam could help him get out of this mess of a misunderstanding since she was good at Korean.

He thought that Mariam was probably well aware of how things worked here too, but that turned out to be a huge miscalculation on his end.

[I apologize. I should have been more mindful of your circumstances. I deeply apologize for my oversight once again…]

Somehow, it seemed that Mariam was having an even greater misunderstanding compared to Tayarana for some reason.

[N-No! That’s not it!] Han-Yeol retorted before he explained in detail to resolve this misunderstanding.

He proceeded to explain to them how things normally worked, and he even emphasized that he had almost one trillion won in his bank account to prove that he was not poor.

[Oh, is that so?]

[Yes. I did live in something similar to a slum before I awakened as a Hunter, but I’m no longer living in poverty after becoming a Hunter. I think I will be able to officially cross the one trillion mark after my next hunt.]

One trillion won was a mythical figure for Han-Yeol.

How much was one trillion won? Picture this, if someone spent six hundred thousand won every day since Dangun founded the first Korean Kingdom 4,327 years ago, then they would still have forty-eight billion seven million won remaining.

That was why Han-Yeol was quite proud of the fact that he was able to accumulate such astonishing wealth.

However, that did not seem to do the job of improving the current circumstances.

[Mariam, what can you buy with one trillion won?] Tayarana asked.

[It is an amount that you would be able to carry out your hobbies, Tayarana-nim. You will be able to purchase houses or buildings, but you will not be able to do anything significant with that amount,] Mariam replied.

[I thought so.]

[Indeed.]

Tayarana continued looking at Han-Yeol with a pitiful gaze as she continued holding onto his hands.

Han-Yeol could not help but feel burdened by Tayarana’s hands, eyes, and the eyes of the crowd around them. He felt conflicted. ‘I-It feels good, but this is getting too burdensome…’?

Of course, Han-Yeol had no plans to stop making money after crossing the one trillion won threshold. Not even a year had passed since he became a Hunter, so he was quite proud to have amassed such a fortune, and he was certain that he was going to be able to earn much more after a while.

Not to mention, he was getting stronger by the day, and this meant that the amount and quality of mana stones he could sell was going to improve as well.

[Let’s hunt more diligently from now on. You might not be able to earn a lot from it, but it should be enough to cover your living expenses. Also, feel free to take my subordinates out with you whenever you need to hunt.]

[A-Alright…]

Tayarana still seemed to be misunderstanding the whole situation, but Han-Yeol decided to concede defeat and accept the misunderstanding for now. He did not see any way to convince her that he was also rich judging by how she viewed money.

‘I think I read somewhere that the Egyptian president’s fortune was estimated to be around thirty or forty quadrillion…’?Han-Yeol thought.

Of course, this was only an estimate as the real figure was only known to the president himself and the one managing his wealth.

Egypt referred to their leader as the ‘president’, but he was closer to the ‘pharaoh’. Also, they were not a normal democracy where people voted their leader in, but rather, they voted for their leader from the ones who had inherited the pharaoh’s blood.

The reinstatement of the pharaonic bloodline was celebrated by most Egyptians as it signaled the resurrection of their great empire. However, the opposition frowned at it as a desecration of their modern religious belief.

Thanks to this, Egypt was facing political and religious turmoil, and there were numerous cases of terrorist attacks being carried out by religious fanatics all over the country.

[Place your trust in me, Han-Yeol. I will do my best to salvage you from poverty!] Tayarana said with a rather determined gaze.

Her resolute look was so cute that the crowd around them gasped in awe.

The people who wanted to catch a glimpse of the goddess swept all of the binoculars for sale in the mall, and the binoculars were sold out in an instant.

It might be called a waste of money to buy a binocular regardless of its price just to see someone’s face for a few seconds, but most of the people who came to shop here were wealthy people. They had no problem investing in it as long as they could catch a glimpse of the goddess’ face.

In fact, some of the extreme ones considered it an even bigger loss to not be able to see Tayarana’s face in person.

[Alright, I’ve made my decision.]

[W-What is it…?]

Han-Yeol could not help but feel nervous about what Tayarana was going to say next, and the reason was that he could no longer fathom her scale when it came to money.

[We are going to shop for something else,] Tayarana said.

[S-Shop for something else?] Han-Yeol muttered.

[Excellent idea, Tayarana-nim,] Mariam added.

[Right?]

[Yes, Tayarana-nim.]

[Let’s go.]

[W-Wait a minute!] Han-Yeol cried out as he was dragged along by Tayarana to somewhere.

He was not pretending to be dragged off by her just because she was a woman, but rather, he was being dragged around like a ragdoll by her as she overpowered him with her strength. He tried to resist by trying to hold his ground, but he found out almost immediately that resistance was futile.

‘Sigh… Today’s quite a long and tiring day…’?Han-Yeol sighed inwardly. He could not help but feel exhausted after being dragged in all directions by Tayarana and Mariam since morning.

Just a note, it was only 12:30 pm right now. Yes, it was only lunchtime.

Just as Tayarana dragged Han-Yeol out of the mall…

Flash! Flash! Flash! Flash! Flash!?

The exit was flooded with a wave of people trying to get a glimpse of the goddess after hearing that she was there. There were rumors of her appearing at the Hunter Mall’s normal section all over social media, so a horde of people had run over there just to get a glimpse of her.

“Wait a minute!”

“Please! Do a short interview with us! I beg you!”

“Tayarana!”

[Tayarana! Please do an interview with us!]

1. One trillion won is one billion USD.

2. Founder of Korea More info here: