Leveling Up Alone

Han-Yeol left the hospital and went back home. He then turned on his most expensive asset, which was his old, slow, outdated computer, and checked for any raids that were going to take place the next day. He logged in to the website dedicated to Porters.

[Lee Han-Yeol—Level 22]

His name and level were visibly displayed on the screen. The level that was displayed here was not a measurement of Han-Yeol’s ability, but rather of his ability as a Porter.

The Porter leveling system had been introduced to make it easier for Hunters to filter and hire Porters. A Porter was awarded experience points whenever they joined a monster hunt and survived, and their level increased when they gained the required experience points.

‘I wish my real level would be Level 22 soon,’ Han-Yeol thought wistfully.

Hunters preferred to work with high-leveled Porters, as they would have to deal with fewer headaches the more experienced their Porter was.

Han-Yeol scoured the website searching for any parties that were going on a monster hunt the next day. However, there were no potential parties he could join, as most of the ones listed were being hosted by useless Hunters.

A greenhorn Porter would not mind joining any party as they only wanted to make quick bucks, but experienced Porters like Han-Yeol were very selective about the kinds of parties they joined. Unfortunately, there were no parties going on a monster hunt the next day that caught his eye.

‘Should I just join any party…?’ Han-Yeol grumbled inwardly.

He did not really want to join just any bunch of ragtag Hunters, but that was the only choice he had at the moment if he wanted to go on a monster hunt the next day. In the end, Han-Yeol scrolled through the list and left a message for a party that had been assembled by a Hunter who seemed to have a good reputation, as well as a lot of experience with monster hunting.

[I’m a Porter with four years of experience. Do you need a Porter in your party, by any chance?]

“…” Han-Yeol waited in silence for a moment.

[You may join us tomorrow.]

He received a reply in less than a minute, and of course, the reply contained the party’s acceptance.

‘As expected. It’s not easy to get a Porter like me, after all,’ Han-Yeol thought with a smirk on his face.

He received the time and location of the meeting before shutting his computer and heading to bed. He was planning to take a quick nap before heading to work at the factory.

‘I should quit the factory at the end of the month,’ Han-Yeol thought.

He was not an officially recognized Hunter yet, but he felt it was only a matter of time before he became one, and if he did become an official Hunter, the factory would no longer be a source of income for him. Rather, it would become something that held him back from going out on monster hunts.

Just as his eyes were about to close…

Ding-dong…!

“Hmm?”

The doorbell suddenly rang.

‘That’s weird… I’m not expecting anyone,’ Han-Yeol thought.

It has been quite a while since he had cut contact with most of the people he knew, as he would not have both the mental and physical energy to hang out and chat with them even if he somehow managed to set some time aside. Besides, he did not want to show other people how miserable his life was, and so he also changed his mobile number after moving to the moon village.

“Yawn…” Han-Yeol yawned as he got up lazily and dragged his feet toward the door while scratching his abdomen.

Step… Step…

He opened the door and asked, “Who is…?”

However, nobody was at the door.

“Ah, fuck… Who the hell still pulls doorbell pranks nowadays, and in broad daylight too… Hmm?” Han-Yeol grumbled, and was about to close the door when something caught his eye.

‘Banana milk? There’s a letter too?’ Han-Yeol thought as he looked at the two items left on the floor. ‘Who put these here?’ he wondered before bringing the banana milk and the letter inside.

‘I hope this isn’t one of those chain letters or something.’ Han-Yeol expected the contents to be like the letters he had used to pull pranks in his younger days. He then scoffed and thought, ‘That’s not going to work against me.’

He decided to read the letter. As childish as the prank was, he decided to be considerate of the effort they had put in preparing the whole thing.

[Dear Han-Yeol ahjussi… I mean, Han-Yeol oppa.

I am really thankful to you for saving me yesterday. I could not think of any way to thank you, so I am giving you my favorite banana milk.

Thank you so much!]

‘That kiddo,’ Han-Yeol thought with a smile.

The letter had not turned out to be a chain letter; instead, it was a letter sincerely written by the cute and beautiful high schooler who lived next door to express her gratitude. He could not help but smile, as he found the girl’s actions adorable.

He drank the banana milk and prepared to go to work.

‘Today’s going to be a good day!’ Han-Yeol optimistically started the second half of his day.

***

Han-Yeol fulfilled his daily quota faster than anyone else once again. Deok-Su, the factory manager, stood and watched from the second floor, trying to catch Han-Yeol red-handed just in case he pulled any tricks. Of course, Deok-Su could not find any fault in Han-Yeol, as he was not pulling any tricks and was just working at a faster rate due to the buff from the Dismember skill.

“Then, I will be off,” Han-Yeol said as he confidently clocked out after fulfilling his daily quota once again in two and a half hours. The other workers glared at him with eyes full of envy, but the thick-skinned Han-Yeol was not someone to be fazed by that as he clocked out of his shift.

‘Ah, should I practice a bit before going home?’ Han-Yeol thought as he walked up the road of the moon village and passed his house to reach the park.

Coo, coo, coo, coo…

The park was deserted and eerie as expected, but Han-Yeol had experienced too many things in life and fought against too many monsters right before his eyes for something like that to scare him. Han-Yeol’s nerves had been tempered such that the only time he would actually get scared was if his life were in danger.

Han-Yeol sat at the resting hut after arriving at the park, then he assessed his current situation by focusing on himself.

‘The things I have at the moment are…’

Name: Lee Han-Yeol

Level: 1

Points: 5

STR: 29

VIT: 35

AGI: 30

MAG: 10

LCK: 10

Skills: Dismember (F), Sword Master (F), Walking (F), Mana Control (F), Mana Mastery (F), Power Strike (F), Mana Shield (F), Sixth Sense (F), Restrain (F), Body Strengthening (F)

‘I gathered quite a few skills,’ Han-Yeol thought proudly about his growth-type ability that was different from those of the other Awakened. He had so many skills under his belt even though he had not even gone out on a single official monster hunt as an officially recognized Hunter.

However, he could not help but feel nervous. He might have obtained a game-like ability, but monster hunts were reality, not a game; he knew very well that he would have to forfeit his life if he died in reality.

Many people registered as Porters every year, and many Porters managed to awaken as well. However, many Porters and many Hunters were also killed in action by the monsters every year.

The occupation of Hunter guaranteed wealth, fame, and social status; but the death toll rose every year, while those who were lucky enough to escape death ended up being disabled. Working as a Hunter was definitely only for those who were brave enough to bear the risks.

‘But I have to become a Hunter,’ Han-Yeol thought as he clenched his fists. He had to take care of his father, who had devoted his whole life to Han-Yeol and was bedridden due to an unknown illness.

Han-Yeol had to become a Hunter at all costs. It did not matter that he was scared, nor did it matter that it was going to be a difficult journey. He had to do it for his father, who was barely hanging on to life.

“I’ll never give up!” Han-Yeol screamed.

Whooosh… Kablam!

Han-Yeol had been practicing throwing a decent-sized rock at a target he had drawn on an abandoned building. However, his emotions had flared up and he ended up putting a bit too much power behind his throw this time. The rock, which had only managed to create small cracks in the building previously, penetrated the building wall completely.

Ding!

[Your continuous training has produced results.]

[The rank of Power Strike has risen from (F) to (E).]

[You are now able to imbue more mana into objects.]

[Your throwing accuracy has slightly increased.]

‘It ranked up,’ Han-Yeol thought, surprised. He had not expected his skill to rank up from what he had done. He was amazed, thinking, ‘So my skills can rank up like this as well.’

He then continued throwing for another hour before heading home, and he started to prepare for the monster hunt that was taking place the next day. He did have a lot of skills, and even a skill that had ranked up, under his belt; but he was technically attending the monster hunt the next day as a Porter, so he had a lot of things that he had to prepare.

The intense competition between Porters made them provide all sorts of services that were not within their scope; but that had made the Hunters even lazier, and now, the Hunters came to monster hunts empty-handed with only their weapons in tow. The Porters had to prepare and provide food, shelter, and other things that were required for parties to survive in the hunting grounds.

‘I’ll never be like that.’ Han-Yeol steeled his resolve as he finished packing his gear for the next day, before setting an alarm and going to sleep for the night.

***

The next morning, Han-Yeol woke up due to the alarm he had set the previous night.

He took a quick shower, then took a taxi together with the gear he had prepared and packed last night. Of course, there was no way that Han-Yeol, who preferred to walk instead of taking the bus to save money, would ever take a taxi normally; but he had so many things packed this time that it was impossible for him to ride the bus, so he was left with no choice but to take a taxi.

The place he went to could be called the headquarters of the Porters. It was located in the city hall building, where they had created a special department called the ‘Porter Handling Department’.

“Calling all Porters designated for Team A-007, departing at 09:00,” a staffer from the handling department called out, identifying the party’s code number.

“Yes!” Han-Yeol and two other Porters responded while raising their hands.

“Lee Han-Yeol, Choi Chung-Hyun, and Kim Han?” the staffer asked.

All of them nodded in response and replied, “Yes, that is correct.”

The staffer received the IDs of the three and verified their identities using their photos before guiding the three to the basement to receive their weapons for the monster hunt.

“All three of you have experience working as Porters for over a year, so I will skip over the rules and regulations. In return, I pray that you will return alive and return these guns to us,” the staffer said.

The three Porters received their weapons and the blessing from the staffer before moving together toward the vehicle rental area. It did not take long for them to get along with each other.

“Hello! My name is Choi Chung-Hyun, and I am 26 years old. I was preparing to be a civil servant before I became a Porter to make ends meet,” one of the Porters said as he introduced himself.

The other Porter followed suit, saying, “Hi, my name is Kim Han and I am 21 years old. It has always been my dream ever since I was young to become a Hunter, so I applied to become a Porter as soon as I graduated high school.”

Then, Han-Yeol finally introduced himself. “I suppose I am the most senior among us then. I am 28 years old, and I have been working for four years as a Porter.”

Porters had to spend the whole day together, so most of them usually introduced themselves at the start and tried to get acquainted with the others. It was also not too hard for them to get close and form camaraderie, as they usually went through the same stresses and problems working as Porters.

The three of them wrapped up their self-introductions and went to the rendezvous spot with the truck they had rented.

“The Hunters aren’t here, as expected.”

“Come early, my ass. I’d be glad if they weren’t late.”

The Porters grumbled and waited until the Hunters arrived before leaving for the hunting grounds.

Thud… Thud…

Han-Yeol drove the truck, and the hunting ground they were going to was located in what had been known before as the DMZ[1] at North Gyeonggi-do. It boasted the highest concentration of monsters in Korea, and a lot of Hunters made their way there to hunt.

“Alright, Hunter-nims. The monsters we will be hunting today are Mad Dogs. As you may know, they might be called ‘Mad Dogs’, but they’re violent monsters that are as large as cows, and they’re very agile and strong. They roam around in packs of two or three, so we need to be alert at all times,” the manager said.

Nod.

The Hunters nodded nervously in response.

“Haha. There’s no need for you to be so nervous. They’re weak compared to you, and we won’t be having any casualties as long as we don’t lower our guard,” the manager said, skillfully calming the Hunters down and showing why he had the title of manager. He was there to make sure that none of the party members were overly nervous, so they would not end up making a mistake that might cost the party later on.

“We’re finally almost at our destination. Let’s get off here,” the manager said.

Creak…

They crossed the CCL[2] of the DMZ, and parked the truck on a wide and vast plain.

“Shall we get off?”

The party exited the truck and traversed the plains with the manager guiding them.

Grrr… Woof! Woof!

“They’re here! It’s the Mad Dogs!” the manager called out, alerting the party.

The Mad Dogs had used their excellent sense of smell to sniff out the party from a great distance. Three gray Mad Dogs charged fiercely at the party, foaming at the mouth.

“Porters! Open fire!” the manager commanded.

Ratatatata!

Han-Yeol and the other two simultaneously opened fire, but something felt different about their bullets today.

‘I should be able to imbue mana into bullets,’ Han-Yeol had thought previously when they were going over their supplies and equipment. He had imbued the bullets the Porters were shooting with mana through his Power Strike skill.

Grrrr…! Kekeng kekeng!

“They’re faltering! Porters, cease fire! Hunter-nims, go ahead and finish them off!” the manager ordered.

“Haaap!” The five Hunters simultaneously charged at the Mad Dogs.

Sukeok!

Kekeng!

“Hmm…?”

“Why is it so easy?”

The Hunters were perplexed at how easily they were able to kill the monsters. They had chosen a hunting ground that was slightly easy for them, but they were confused as to why the Mad Dogs, which were famous for their tenacity, had died so easily.

“I guess it’s not that bad?”

“I agree.”

The manager nodded in satisfaction as their first engagement against the monsters wrapped up and said, “We can kick things up a notch if we keep this up.”

1. The DMZ is the border between South Korea and North Korea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Demilitarized_Zone ☜

2. CCL stands for ‘Civilian Control Line’, the closest a civilian can approach before being arrested or turned back. ☜