Leveling Up Alone

The amount of information present in this place was substantial. On top of that, a good chunk of the documents were recent publications, so Han-Yeol was forced to read every single one.

Anyone tasked with reading all of these documents at least once would think of one of two things: give up or find another solution.

Han-Yeol chose the latter option as he decided to create a new skill that would help him in this situation.

Skill Combination was truly an overpowered skill that allowed him to create more skills using his pre-existing ones, but its long cooldown period was a huge drawback that prevented him from abusing it to his heart’s content.

Anyway, the new skill he created, Eyes of Kalagos, surprisingly allowed him to read things without opening them. The inclusion of Analytic Eyes allowed him to sit in the center of the room with his eyes closed, and Karvis proceeded to read and analyze the mountain of documents.

The Eyes of Kalagos increased his reading and processing speed by several hundredfold, which was why he was in charge of reading while Stewart would compile whatever data he passed to him.

Han-Yeol’s stomach growled the moment he stepped out of the room.

“I see that you are starving.”

“Oh? That sounds really good. There’s a restaurant that makes a mean one, so let’s go eat there.”

“Weren’t we going to eat at the cafeteria here?”

“Hmm… I can’t digest the food if I eat there.”

Han-Yeol had eaten at the cafeteria a few times, and the food there was not bad at all. However, he soon found eating there uncomfortable due to the attention he received from the others. There was really nothing he could do, as they were not looking at him out of spite or anything of that sort, and they were simply looking at him out of awe and general curiosity.

Still, Han-Yeol could not help but feel burdened by their gazes, and that made it difficult for him to digest his food.

“Meal tis very important, you know? The last thing I want is to be disturbed while eating.”

“Ah, sure, whatever you say…”

Stewart was not the kind of demon who would care about the gazes of others, so he had a hard tunderstanding Han-Yeol, but he did not mind going outside if it meant he could enjoy an even tastier yukgaejang.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes, Han-Yeol-nim.”

They left the Blue House for the best yukgaejang restaurant in town, with the Gurkhas escorting them. The gates opened when Han-Yeol’s car approached it, and the rumors of his departure spread like wildfire as soon as the gates opened.

How did they know it was him? The extremely luxurious car Han-Yeol was riding was the only one of its kind in the whole world, so everyone knew it was him whenever the car was spotted.

“What? He’s going out to eat?”

“Yeah, I guess he doesn’t want to eat with peasants like us.”

“Hey, isn’t that obvious? He might have said he would abolish all social standings when he toppled the government, but he probably thinks otherwise now that he wields all power. Don’t forget, he wields far greater power than anyone else ever before, and he most likely has started to abuse that to recoup the money he poured into buying Japan.”

“Oh, right. I read in a famous American magazine that he was one of the top one hundred richest people in the world. I mean, that’s quite absurd. Not even a month has passed since he spent a fortune to buy Japan.”

“Technically, he barely made it into the top one hundred list, but that only means he’s extremely rich.”

“Yeah, we’re literally peasants in his eyes.”

“I have to worry about my wife’s credit card bill next month.”

The people praised Han-Yeol as a revolutionary, but he was nothing other than an invader who had seized power by using force against the staffers working in the Blue House.

These staffers did not care which person was elected into the Blue House, as their jobs were mostly secure, but the sudden change to Han-Yeol as their boss made them start worrying about their jobs.

This was the real reason why Han-Yeol found everyone’s gazes burdensome.

***

The youngsters in their twenties would pick Hongdae and Garosu-gil as the two hottest destinations in South Korea, and Han-Yeol was currently strolling down Garosu-gil at the moment.ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ ɴo(v)elFɪre.ɴet

“Oh! It’s Lee Han-Yeol!”

“Please look here!”

“Hey, who’s that handsyoung boy beside him? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him before.

“He’s probably a Hunter.”

Nobody assumed Stewart was an ordinary person, even though there was no official statement that said whether he was a Hunter or not. It was to be expected, as no ordinary person would walk around in broad daylight with their eyes covered with such strange-looking blinders.

On the other hand, there were a few Hunters who would wear such strange getups due to the ability they awakened with, and that was the reason people automatically assumed he was a Hunter.

Anyway, Stewart’s aura instantly caught the attention of the people. He exuded a mysterious presence, and there was something cool about him even though his eyes were covered by the blinders.

“Wow, what should I do? Should I ask for his number? He’s so cool!”

“Take a picture first! Hurry!”

“No! Take a video!”

“A-Alright! Givea second!”

“How much longer do we have to walk?” Stewart asked.

Han-Yeol replied, “Hmm… Yeah, it’s right here—”

A table flew out of the restaurant, sending all the utensils and plates on it crashing to the ground.

There, he saw an old woman, who looked quite beautiful for her age, surrounded by six burly men in black suits.

“P-Please don’t do this!”

“Hey, old hag! This wouldn’t have happened if you sold your shop when we told you to, right? You’re wasting our precious tand making things troublesfor everyone! This is all your fault!”

Stewart raised a brow and said, “It seems like there is a dispute between the landlord and the occupant.”

“…”

“Hmm? Han-Yeol-nim?” Stewart called out to Han-Yeol, but he still did not respond.

Han-Yeol’s eyes were trembling as if he saw something he should not have, and he seemed visibly shaken by it.

“Han-Yeol-nim?” Stewart called out once again while waving his hand in front of his face this time.

“Y-Yeah, Stewart?” Han-Yeol stuttered.

“Is something the matter?”

“J-Just givea moment, Stewart.”

“Huh?”

“A moment…” Han-Yeol said as he pushed the demon to the side and walked toward the restaurant.

His ears picked up the crowd’s chatter.

“…”

Han-Yeol did not say anything while listening to the crowd’s chatter, but his face darkened all the more while listening to them.

The men’s actions started to escalate as tpassed.

Nothing was legal about what they were doing, but they knew the woman would not call the cops on them. It was a cruel world out there, and calling the cops on them would result in her dying in a ditch somewhere without any witnesses.

After all, these thugs were infamous for going after those who dared to report them to the police.

“P-Please don’t do this! Just letdo business here in peace!” the old woman pleaded with tears streaming down her face.

She was on her knees, begging, even though the thugs repeatedly slapped her and ruined her face.

“Hey, you bitch!”

However, her begging struck a nerve with the thugs. They expected her to give up and leave the shop, but it seemed that she still did not get their message.

If there was one thing these thugs were extremely good at, then it was using violence to get their message across. Thus, they did what they did best and instantly resorted to violence.

The thug at the front grabbed the old woman by her hair and clenched his fist. He was about to resort to even further violence by punching her since slaps did not seem to get the message across.

The old woman screamed in horror after seeing the thug clench his fist.

Just as the thug was about to swing at the old woman, someone suddenly grabbed his wrist.

“Hmm? Which fool dares to—?”

The one who grabbed the thug’s wrist was none other than Han-Yeol.

Anyone in their right mind would have probably backed off and left after recognizing Han-Yeol, especially more so now that he looked pissed for sreason. However, these thugs weren’t known for their sound judgment.

These thugs were not interested in the affairs of the world and wasted their tfulfilling their own selfish desires. It was not that they did not have access to a TV or computer, but they mostly used those things to watch comedy shows, porn, or gambling instead of watching the news or anything educational.

Also, none of them were interested in Hunters, so they might have heard of Han-Yeol, but they had no idea what he looked like.

The reason they were not interested in Hunters was quite simple. These thugs were not afraid of Hunters, and they strongly believed there was nothing the Hunters could do against them.

Were they awakened beings themselves? Not at all!

However, the boss of these thugs was none other than one of the six Master-Rank Hunters in South Korea.

1. A type of soup dish in Korean cuisine. More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukgaejang ☜