Leveling Up Alone

[Focus.] Kajikar’s voice suddenly rang inside Han-Yeol’s head.

“Kajikar-nim?” Han-Yeol muttered in response.

[Since I am already here, I might as well provide you with some additional special training. The opponents this time aren’t monsters but humans, so I will teach you some defensive and offensive techniques that you can use against humans,] Kajikar said.

‘Heok!’ Han-Yeol was shocked. His opponents this time were professional killers, and he had no idea if he was going to be able to win against them even if he fought with his life on the line. However, the demon drill sergeant was now asking him to use this predicament to train, and this greatly confused him.

[You are forbidden from using Sword Breathe. You are only to use Force Shield when blocking the enemies’ attacks and you are only to use your sword plainly to attack,] Kajikar said.

‘I-I understand,’ Han-Yeol begrudgingly answered. He really did not want to follow this crazy demon’s instructions, but he had to follow Kajikar’s orders since he had already promised that he would do whatever he was told.

Clang! Han-Yeol used Force Shield to block the red-haired woman’s poison-laced dagger, then…

[Stop being a coward and use your sword to block simple attacks like that!] Kajikar’s angry voice boomed in his head.

‘Y-Yes!’ Han-Yeol panicked and replied. He quickly swung his sword to create some distance between himself and the red-haired woman.

The woman spun in mid-air and did a somersault when she faltered after getting pushed back by Han-Yeol’s shield. Looking at that, the yellow-haired man began to mock her by saying, “What? You can’t even finish him off?”

“Shut up,” the red-haired woman said. Her expression did not change despite her attack failing, but unbeknownst to those around her, she was burning with rage inside.

‘He blocked my coup de grace?’ she was perplexed.

The red-haired woman was the type of person who only fought the battles that she knew she could win. The fact that she was not able to kill her opponent, whom she had assumed would be an easy game, was a massive blow to her pride.

‘Phew… I managed to get out of that just in time,’ Han-Yeol thought as he gathered himself together and raised his sword.

[You have good eyes and that strange ability of yours, which lets you read your enemy’s movements, is indeed fantastic, but watch your enemy’s movements until the last second and use your judgment to make the best possible move based on it. Humans have the peculiar characteristic of being very rigid when it comes to swordsmanship and martial arts, but you don’t need that. You should just focus and think, but more importantly, you have to be quick,] Kajikar instructed.

“Alright,” Han-Yeol responded.

“Ah, this is getting boring… Let's get this over with! I’m getting hungry now. Bazooka!” the yellow-haired man hollered before he fired his rocket at Han-Yeol.

Booom!

‘Huh?’ Han-Yeol muttered in confusion. He could have sworn that the rocket looked normal, but he had this strange feeling that the rocket itself was focusing on him.

Han-Yeol used Mana Eyes, and his suspicions proved to be correct as the rocket was infused with mana that was directed toward him. He thought, ‘So it has homing abilities. I’m bound to get caught by that red-haired woman if I keep fighting like this.’

It was not difficult to avoid the rocket, but its power was undeniably strong. However, Han-Yeol was bound to get caught by the red-haired woman’s poison-laced dagger if he only focused on avoiding the rocket.

Han-Yeol concentrated and infused his mana into his sword.

Step! Then, he rushed forward.

“Foolish! Do you think you can hold my rockets back!” the yellow-haired man laughed, mocking Han-Yeol’s reckless behavior.

However, Han-Yeol simply shouted, “Haaap!”

Sukeok!

Han-Yeol ran forward and sliced the entire rocket in half in one fluid motion.

Kabooom!

A large explosion occurred.

Han-Yeol cut the rocket in half, and both halves of the rocket flew past him before exploding behind him. Everything happened so fast that the rocket only managed to explode after passing him, and Han-Yeol came out unscathed from the explosion. The only effect the explosion had on him was that his shirt fluttered from its wind blast.

“W-What the?” the yellow-haired man muttered in surprise after seeing what just occurred right in front of him.

“Tsk!” the red-haired woman clicked her tongue before she dashed forward and swung her poison-laced dagger at Han-Yeol. She had to hurry up and end this, since this type of chaotic disturbance was very unfavorable to them.

[Try to remember the feeling of what you did just now. Make your next move after focusing all of your senses on your surroundings,] Kajikar’s voice rang inside Han-Yeol’s mind.

‘Time to focus…!’

Han-Yeol thought as he immediately activated his Sixth Sense and Mana Eyes, and cranked them up to the maximum. Then, his senses were so heightened that he could feel the air caressing his skin and every single droplet of moisture in the air. ‘Now it’s time for me to act.’

Clang!

Puuuk!

“Kuheok!” the red-haired woman groaned.

Han-Yeol did not use Sword Breath, relying only on his sword and his judgment. He gracefully moved his wrist and parried the poison-laced dagger, and then he immediately shuffled his feet to close the distance with his target. Finally, he stabbed her in the neck.

Blood started to gush out from the woman’s neck.

Seuk… Sukeok!

“W-What?” the yellow-haired man muttered in shock.

Han-Yeol pulled his sword out of the red-haired woman’s neck and immediately swung his sword horizontally to behead the woman.

Tuk…

He did not stop there. He immediately rushed toward the yellow-haired man, who was still in a state of panic.

“D-Don't! Come near me!” the yellow-haired man screamed. He started to panic the moment he saw his colleague getting killed in an instant, and he fired a rocket toward Han-Yeol without even aiming properly.

‘These will be difficult to cut in half,’ Han-Yeol thought.

Indeed, it was a bit of a stretch to attempt to cut the rocket in half as he did a while ago, since he was in extremely close proximity to the rocket compared to the previous one.

That was why Han-Yeol chose to use his shield instead of his sword this time. He instantly activated Force Shield and raised it at the incoming rocket.

“Kyahaha! Do you think your measly shield can stop my rocket?!” the yellow-haired man exclaimed while laughing in delight. He might have lost his comrade just moments ago, but the sheer bliss from the thought of emerging victorious due to the Hunter’s naïve action was more than enough to make him laugh ecstatically.

“Heup!” Han-Yeol groaned just before the rocket was about to hit his shield.

Just when the rocket was about to make contact with his shield, he suddenly used another skill. He gathered his mana and channeled them into his shield as he activated his shield skill, ‘Shield Bash!’

Bam… Swhooooo… Kabooom!

“H-Huh?” the yellow-haired man muttered in confusion. He was expecting a huge explosion that would devour Han-Yeol and turn him into ashes once his rocket collided with the shield, but that did not happen at all.

Han-Yeol had used his shield to redirect the rocket just split seconds before it exploded and sent it flying behind him.

The yellow-haired man was speechless.

Swhiiik…

Han-Yeol closed the distance between him and the yellow-haired man while the man was still in a state of disbelief. He said coldly, “It's over.”

“N-No…!” the yellow-haired man muttered as if he was about to beg for his life any second now. However, Han-Yeol’s sword penetrated his heart even before he got the chance to mutter anything else.

The heart was the second most critical part of a human’s body after the brain, and there was no way that anyone would be able to withstand having a sword pierce through their heart unless they were not human.

Puuuuuk…!

Han-Yeol pulled his sword out, and blood started to gush out from the yellow-haired man’s heart like a fountain.

Thud…!

The yellow-haired man, who was now as pale as a ghost, knelt on the floor and died in that position.

‘Phew…’ Han-Yeol let out a sigh.

[Good job,] Kajikar said after everything was over.

Han-Yeol closed his eyes at the demon drill sergeant’s words and felt the stinging pain in his heart that lingered after the battle ended.

***

At an office on the top floor of a tall glass building.

Bam!

“What did you just say? What? You failed?” a man asked angrily.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know that the target was such a strong Hunter. I was certain that the information from the Hunters’ Association said that he was an E Rank Hunter, so I sent a group of D Rank killers…” the man on the receiving end said.

“Do you call that an excuse? Do you think that money was the only thing that we spent hiring those killers? Are you not aware of how risky it is to hire killers in any country these days? But you failed on top of that?!” the man shouted.

“I'm sorry, Soo-Hyuk,” the man who was being berated replied.

“Do you think an apology will solve this?!” the man named Soo-Hyuk screamed.

Soo-Hyuk was a young man, but he was berating a man in his late thirties. The middle-aged man was in front of Soo-Hyuk with his head hung down.

There was a plaque on the table Soo-Hyuk was sitting on.

[Executive Director Kwon Soo-Hyuk]

“Hyung, you are aware that my brothers and I are currently in a fight over the succession rites, and the family is in a mess, right?” Soo-Hyuk said.

“Of course I do,” the middle-aged man replied.

“If my brothers find out that I couldn’t even take care of a small factory and was instead humiliated in the process… do you think they will leave me alone? They will probably see it as an opportunity to finish me off. Then, I will really be finished. Then what will happen to you, hyung, if I’m finished? Do you think you can peacefully sleep at night without worrying about your job if that happens?” Soo-Hyuk said with a grimace.

“...”

Director Kwon Soo-Hyuk stood up from his seat and approached the middle-aged man, and then he placed his hands on the man's shoulder before he said, “Director Lee, you’re older than me. You can't just be forever stuck as a manager, right? You should try to at least become the executive director and maybe even the president of this company someday. Now, let me ask you. What should you do to achieve that?”

“S-Soo-Hyuk, you should take over the company for that to happen,” Director Lee immediately replied.

“Yes, that’s correct! But how pathetic is it that the future leader of this company can't even take care of a small factory?” Soo-Hyuk lamented.

“O-Of course, I understand what you are trying to say,” Director Lee said while his forehead was covered in cold sweat.

Director Lee had grown up together with Soo-Hyuk, but Soo-Hyuk was still nerve-wracking and difficult to deal with despite him being younger. He was very unpredictable, and he could do anything on impulse.

“Who’s in charge of the acquisition of this factory?” Soo-Hyuk asked.

“Ah, it’s Department Head Jung Seok-Won. He has been a manager for two years now,” Director Lee replied.

“Tell Department Head Jung to come into my office,” Soo-Hyuk said.

“A-Alright,” Director Lee replied.

Director Lee could have asked one of the employees to go and call Department Head Jung, but he did it himself. After all, he wanted to leave Soo-Hyuk’s office as soon as possible.

“Hey! Hey! Where is Department Head Jung?!” Director Lee shouted. No longer trembling while covered in cold sweat, he turned into a completely different person from a while ago upon arriving at the office where the employees were at.

Then, one of the managers immediately ran to Director Lee before he bowed his head and replied, “D-Department Head Jung is out on business right now.”

“What? Out on business?” Director Lee replied while grimacing.

“Y-Yes,” the manager replied.

“That crazy bastard! Can’t he read the company’s atmosphere right now?! How can he even think of leaving the office at this time?!” Director Lee yelled angrily.

“W-What you said is correct, sir,” the manager said as he tried to appease the furious manager.

Director Lee pointed his finger at the manager and said, “Call Department Head Jung this instant and tell him to come to my office immediately!”

“Y-Yes, I will do it at once, sir,” the manager said as he bowed over and over again to the point that his back could break any moment now[1].

Director Lee clicked his tongue after hearing the manager’s response and went to his office. On the way there, he nervously fiddled with his necktie and grumbled, “Tsk… young people these days are so useless. All of them are.”

It was not until Director Lee left for his office that the manager finally stood up straight and spat out curses behind his back, “Wow, that crazy bastard. How can he act so high and mighty when he is so young, damn it!”

The manager continued to curse Director Lee under his breath for a good five minutes before he turned around and called a woman, “Hey! Assistant Manager Lee!”

“Yes, manager-nim,” a woman in a suit came running in a hurry when her superior called.

“Call Department Head Jung and let him know that Director Lee is looking for him, and tell him to come as soon as he can, because the director is quite in a foul mood right now,” the manager said.

“Yes, sir,” answered the female employee.

“Damn it… I am going to smoke for a while. Assistant Manager Lee, you take special care so that the office mood doesn’t sour any more than this, alright?” the manager grumbled.

“Yes, sir,” the female employee answered before she hurriedly went to do what she was told.

The office atmosphere was once again a mess today, and it was common knowledge for employees to work overtime whenever the office atmosphere was bad. However, the employees here tended to think of ways to kill time and look busy instead of finding actual work to do, since there was no reason for them to work hard in the first place.

The present-day society was one where everything was based on connections, and it was impossible for anyone to be promoted unless they were either very talented or very well connected. That was why most people aimed to just fill the hours and collect their paycheck until the day they retired, and then they would start collecting their retirement paycheck.

Assistant Director Lee called Department Head Jung, who seemed incapable of sitting still at his desk today.

Ring... Ring… Ring…. Ring… Ring…Ring…

The line was ringing, but Department Head Jung was not answering his phone.

“Sigh, this bastard is not answering the phone again…” Assistant Manager Lee grumbled.

Department Head Jung was a delinquent when it came to going out of the office for business. It was actually quite difficult for this company’s employees to have to conduct business outside of their office due to the nature of their work, but he seemed to come up with all sorts of reasons and excuses to go out all the time. However, the fact that he came up with these excuses and skipped work was not even the worst part, because he would usually leave the office to go to saunas, internet cafes, or even brothels.

The reason why Assistant Director Lee knew about Department Head Jung’s escapades was simply due to the fact that he would always come back to the office looking like a triumphant general coming back from war while bragging about his endeavors.

Department Head Jung was obviously doing something wrong, but nobody really reprimanded him for his behavior. That was because his title as the department head made him the highest-ranking person among the regular employees, and Department Head Jung was one of Executive Director Kwon’s lackeys. This meant that he was technically, but not officially, the highest-ranking department head among all of the others in a similar position.

“Hey, intern!” Assistant Manager Lee shouted.

“Yes, Assistant Manager-nim!” a male intern, who joined the company not too long ago during the recent open recruitment, answered as he came running.

The male intern was quite humble and motivated, and he was eager to learn as he held great ambitions for his career. However, he now spent most of his time praying every day hoping that he could pass the day without having any problems so that he could end up being hired as a full-time employee.

That was how the male intern started his career, just like anyone else in this South Korean society.

1. This is a Korean idiom that means that someone continuously bows to someone over and over again, hence breaking the back, but not actually breaking the back. ☜