Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 100: The True Path to Wealth (2)

The news outlets went all out just to score an interview with Tayarana, urgently deploying reporters who were fluent in Arabic to the mall. However, that was nowhere enough to make her budge an inch.

[Mariam.]

[Yes, Tayarana-nim.]

Mariam took a step forward and controlled the consciousness of the Korean bodyguards.

Ziiiing!

The Korean bodyguards’ eyes suddenly changed after being dominated by Mariam’s ability.

Some might find what Mariam did just now to be unethical, but this was something that had been pre-agreed between them, so there was no problem with it. It was illegal for a Hunter to use their ability on ordinary civilians, but there was no issue if both parties had come to an understanding prior to it.

Mariam also used her telepathic ability to issue a command to the Egyptian bodyguards.

[Open a way for Tayarana-nim.]

[Yes, ma’am!]

There were already police deployed on the site, but they could not exert physical force on the crowd who was not illegally protesting or anything of that sort. It was not a crime to gather around just to see someone, after all.

Gulp…!

‘I need to endure this!’

‘I will endure this!’

‘I will definitely get a chance as long as I endure it!’

The reporters were prepared to hold their ground until the very bitter end of their own volition. This was so they stood a chance to get a bit closer to the goddess and snap up a photograph of her or ask her a question.

They knew very well from experience that they were going to be pushed quite far back by the bodyguards if they let them, and the difference in the quality of photographs being taken from a distance and from close-up was like heaven and earth.

In the end, the reporters gritted their teeth and steeled their resolve to not budge a single inch from their current spot. They linked their arms together and formed a human chain when the bodyguards were making their way toward them… However, they had grossly miscalculated who they were up against.

Thud!

“W… W-What…?”

The reporters held on for dear life as they stood their ground, but the bodyguards easily pushed them out of the way as if they were a bunch of five-year-olds.

“Eeek!”

“Hold your ground!”

“Push back! Push harder!”

“Don’t falter! Push!”

After being easily pushed back, the reporters unlinked their arms. They tried to rely on their own personal strength to push the bodyguards back. However, there was no way that a bunch of ordinary reporters was going to be able to push back the Egyptian bodyguards, who were awakened Hunters.

The Egyptian bodyguards might just be F Rank Hunters and not that helpful when it came to hunting monsters, but they still possessed far superior physical abilities compared to ordinary people. Not only that, but anyone who awakened with skills that buffed their physical abilities would be far stronger than a bunch of ragtag reporters.

“Crazy! Why are they so strong?!”

“Euaaaak!”

“Ugh!”

“They aren’t budging an inch!”

“Hey! Look here, we are both Koreans so shouldn’t we be helping each other?”

Some of the reporters tried to negotiate with the Korean bodyguards after confirming that they were Koreans as well. However, they were not aware of the fact that the Korean bodyguards were currently under the influence of Mariam’s mind control and were unable to hear them.

On top of that, Mariam’s ability greatly amplified the Korean bodyguards’ physical abilities as well. This made them even harder to deal with.

[A path has opened for you, Tayarana-nim,] Mariam said while still maintaining control of the Korean bodyguards.

“Hey! Aren’t you being too stingy?!”

“Do you know who I am?!”

“Ha! Do you really think you can be safe in Korea after making the media your enemy?!”

“Hey, you bastard! Which school did you graduate from?!”

“How old are you?!”

The Korean reporters hurled all sorts of insults, further embarrassing their country in the presence of numerous international journalists. However, the Korean bodyguards did not even respond to them as they were currently under Mariam’s control.

Step… Step… Step… Step…?

Tayarana nonchalantly dragged Han-Yeol into her car after a path opened.

Flash! Flash! Flash! Flash! Flash! Flash!?

The foreign journalists and some of the Korean ones gave up on pushing through the bodyguards. They turned their focus toward snapping up as many pictures as they possibly could albeit from a distance.

“Oh! This is going to be huge!”

“The goddess has fallen for Korean charms!”

“The goddess loves Korea!”

“A Korean man’s persistence managed to seduce the goddess!”

“A romance between a god and a mortal!”

“Ah! I can feel my patriotism rising today!”

“Hahahaha!”

The reporters started conjuring up all sorts of click-bait headlines that were far from true. The fact was not important to them, since they only cared about generating as many views as possible while using all sorts of vague and shady methods to avoid legal liability.

In the end, these people were not interested in what was the truth or not. The only thing they cared about was their own careers even at the expense of others.

The reporters were in a frenzy until Tayarana, Mariam, and Han-Yeol got into the car and drove away. Of course, them leaving the scene did not mean that things would calm down.

“Follow that car! Don’t lose it no matter what!”

“Yes, sir!”

One of the basic requirements to become a reporter was tenacity, and no reporter was going to give up on a potential exclusive scoop just because their target had taken off in a car.

However…

“Sir…”

“Ah, fuck this! How are we supposed to follow them if they’re taking a helicopter?!”

“How will we compete with that…?”

“Ha…”

“Our manager bastard is going to berate us again…”

“Are they going to punish us for this…?”

“I hope not…”

The reporters ran through several red lights, went past the speed limit, and even almost got into traffic accidents just to chase after the car. Unfortunately, they eventually lost them after Han-Yeol and the women got off at a helipad and took off in a helicopter.

Technically, their news station owned their own helicopters as well, but it was not something that they could hail down from the air like a taxi. They needed to get numerous pre-authorizations, but that would take time. Also, no one was going to simply allow them to use a helicopter just because of one scoop.

“What are we going to do now…?”

“Ah… I have no idea… Just shut it, will you?!”

“Why are you taking it out on me…?”

The reporters eventually gave up despite their best efforts.

***

Dudududu!

Meanwhile, Han-Yeol, Tayarana, and Mariam, all of whom the reporters were chasing after, currently flew two thousand meters above the ground.

[Hey, Tara,] Han-Yeol called out.

[Yes?] Tayarana replied.

[Where are we going?]

[Shopping.]

[No, I mean, what kind of shopping are we going to do for us to require taking a helicopter?]

[You will find out soon enough.]

[Tayarana-nim is right. You will find out soon enough, Han-Yeol-nim,] Mariam added.

‘Not that I have a choice now, right…?’?Han-Yeol grumbled inwardly.

There were numerous kinds of shopping out there. The first and foremost was the traditional style where one would visit a brick-and-mortar shop to see, feel, and test a product before purchasing it. The second was to look up a product on the internet and order it online. The third one was to watch a shopping channel on TV and place an order through the phone if whatever product the show host was promoting caught one’s eye.

However, Han-Yeol never heard of shopping from a helicopter in his life, and this was something that he could not comprehend no matter how hard he tried.

Meanwhile, the helicopter had already passed Central Seoul and was headed toward the city’s outskirts.

‘Hmm… This direction is heading toward Tara’s mansion. Oh, maybe there’s a special place to shop over there?’?Han-Yeol thought as he finally came up with a logical conclusion.

Unfortunately, his conclusion was off the mark. The helicopter was indeed heading toward the direction of Tayarana’s mansion, but it was not really heading toward that specific place.

[Here it is,] Tayarana said.

[What kind of shopping are we going to do here?] Han-Yeol asked.

[Look down.]

[Down?]

[Yes.]

Han-Yeol looked down the window, but all he saw was pieces of land with luxurious mansions built on them. All of the mansions looked as expensive as the one next to it, and this place appeared to be where most of the rich people in the country lived.

Han-Yeol finished looking around before looking back at Tayarana. He asked, [What about it?]

[Pick one,] she replied.

[Pick what?]

[House.]

[House?]

[Yes.]

[…]

‘What did she just ask me to pick?’?

Han-Yeol doubted his ears and his brain stopped working for a second. He turned his gaze from the goddess of beauty toward the goddess of answers, hoping that she would be able to enlighten him of what Tayarana was talking about.

[Tayarana-nim wishes to purchase a house for you, Han-Yeol-nim, as a gift. Of course, she understands that you have your own reasons for living in that apart…ment… However, her pride will not allow the Vice Leader of the Horus raid party to live in a chicken coop. Also, you living in a chicken coop will also tarnish the reputation of the raid party. I hope you would take into consideration Tayarana-nim’s prestige as well as the reputation of the raid party and accept this gift,] Mariam explained.

Then, she quickly added, [Tayarana-nim is not commanding you to accept this gift, but she is requesting you to accept this as her friend.]

[Ugh…] Han-Yeol groaned at Mariam’s quick follow-up.

He was about to immediately refuse the gift Tayarana had prepared for him, but Mariam’s quick-witted thinking made it difficult for him to refuse it.

‘Isn’t this a bit too extravagant of a gift to give to a friend…? Will it even be possible for me to adapt to her standard of living…?’?Han-Yeol wondered.

They said that the oil tycoons from the Middle East spent their money in such a manner prior to the dimensional outbreak, and Han-Yeol could not help but assume that what Tayarana was doing was probably the same as what they used to do.

Of course, the oil tycoons were nothing but middle-class people now compared to the new wealth of this generation, which were the mana stone tycoons.

Dudududu!

The helicopter remained hovering in the air without moving, and Han-Yeol was forced to pick a mansion under the burdensome gazes of Tayarana and Mariam.

‘A-Alright… There’s no need to refuse a present, right…?’

In the end, Han-Yeol decided to accept the gift. He might have been skeptical enough to refuse the offer if someone he did not trust had offered it, but Tayarana was someone who fought alongside him on the battlefield. Not only that, but she was now the trusted comrade whom he would be relying on from now on. They were also going to be looking out for each other with their lives on the line.

Han-Yeol started to seriously pick a mansion from the ones beneath him. He activated his skill, ‘Demon Eyes.’?

After his eyes turned red from his skill activation, Han-Yeol decided to go all out in picking the ‘gift’ by using his surveillance skill as well.

[You will have to see the interior too, right?] Tayarana said.

The mansions were spacious enough that all of them possessed their own helipad, so it was possible to land the helicopter to have a tour of them one by one. However, Han-Yeol shook his head in response and said, [No, I can roughly make out what it looks like inside with my skill.]

[I see… That looks like a very convenient skill to have.]

[I suppose it is.]

This was the reason that any surveillance or observation skill was quite handy to have. They were not only useful in combat, but they were very useful in everyday life too.

It had been thirty minutes since Han-Yeol started picking his ‘gift’. Only until the helicopter continued to hover in place and almost ran out of fuel did he finally make his choice.

[I’ll go with that one.]

[That one?]

.

Han-Yeol pointed at a modern-looking mansion situated on top of a hill. It was quite big and had a huge lawn surrounding it, and there were numerous stand-alone buildings around the main building too. In fact, even the stand-alone buildings were spacious enough for anyone to use as their home.

To be honest, the mansion was too big for Han-Yeol and his father to live in. He was initially quite burdened by having to choose a mansion, but he slowly started to feel greedy after browsing through the numerous houses beneath him. Well, it was understandable, since he could freely pick anything he wanted without having to worry about the price tag, right?

[Excellent choice, I must say,] Mariam complimented.

[Yes, I was thinking that house was going to be perfect for you,] Tayarana added.

[Haha! Does that mean I have what it takes to be rich?] Han-Yeol joked.

[I apologize, but I don’t think you are at that level yet,] Mariam shot him down.

[I agree,] Tayarana concurred.

[These women are so…] Han-Yeol grumbled.

He was not sure if they had pre-agreed on it or if it had just happened this way, but they were having fun ganging up on him.

[Mariam,] Tayarana called out.

[Yes, Tayarana-nim. I will immediately contact the realtor and have it ready by tomorrow,] Mariam replied.

[Good.]

[Tomorrow?!] Han-Yeol exclaimed.

[Why? Is there a problem?] Tayarana asked.

[No… Not at all…] Han-Yeol replied.

He thought to himself, ‘Wow… These guys are really on a whole different level…’