Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 104: Balrog the Fire Shield (1)

The next day, Han-Yeol went to the Horus raid party’s mansion to attend the after-hunt party. The media speculated that it was probably going to be a huge and extravagant event, but Tayarana had instructed the party to be modest and only the raid party members to be invited.

Han-Yeol enjoyed the party to his heart’s content before he went home without any incidents.

***

Four days later.

Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!?

Han-Yeol’s phone rang for the first time in a long while. The caller was Sung-Jin’s father.

“Hello? Yes, ahjussi?” Han-Yeol answered the call.

[H-Han-Yeol! A-Are you acquainted with the Horus raid party by any chance? They want to do business with us, and they’re telling me your name. Did you refer them to us by any chance?]

“No.”

[N-No?!]

“No, I did not refer them to you. I am actually working with them, and I am the Vice Leader of that raid party.”

[V-Vice Leader?!]

“Yes, the Vice Leader. I think they should have arrived today since I gave them the address last week.”

[I-Is that so…? Someone calling herself the advisor of the Horus raid party came. I think her name’s Mariam? She is currently going over the exclusive contract with Manager Han.]

“Exclusive contract? Do you sign those as well?”

Han-Yeol was a bit surprised as he had never heard of such a contract before. He thought, ‘Was there something like this too?’

[Ah, it’s unsurprising for you not to be aware of it. Factories like us don’t usually sign exclusive contracts with Hunters, but we do sign those with guilds or raid parties. It’s business between organizations, after all, so both parties tend to make it more legally stringent.]

“Oh, I see. Then, you can just proceed with it, right? Why did you call me, ahjussi?”

[I wanted to thank you.]

“Come on, we are not strangers, so you do not have to thank me. Sung-Jin is my best friend, and I have been quite satisfied doing business with Sung Jin Factory. I would not have told them to deal with your factory if I was not satisfied with the quality in the first place, so please do not worry about it.”

[…Thank you.]

“Hahaha!”

Han-Yeol might have saved the Sung Jin Factory from the TK Group’s devious plans, but that did not mean that their financial situation had drastically improved after that. Rumors of the TK Group being at odds with the factory had spread throughout the industry, so most companies avoided doing business with them.

After all, no factory was going to risk losing any business with the TK Group no matter how advanced the Sung Jin Factory’s technology in refining monster parts was.

That was the reason why the Sung Jin Factory was forced to do business only with foreign companies, and that in turn affected their cash flow. No, rather, the factory would have closed down a long time ago if it was not for the foreign clients they had.

[Also…]

“Is there something else?”

[They say that Egypt is going to start placing larger orders for us.]

“What?! Did she really say that?!”

Tak! Thud!

Han-Yeol suddenly stood up, pushing his seat to the ground.

[Yes, she did. She initially wanted to sell us the monster parts, but there’s no way that our factory was going to be able to handle that much volume, so I told her that we were only going to take 10% of it. Then, she asked if she could see our products, and of course, I immediately showed them to her. She said she liked our quality, so she immediately instructed ten Egyptian companies to place a total order of one hundred tons worth of our products.]

“Wow…”

[We just received the MOU a while ago and signed it. I’m really grateful to you, Han-Yeol! Our factory will finally make it thanks to you!]

The Sung Jin Factory really had it rough in recent times. They had barely managed to escape from the TK Group, but they immediately faced financial problems so bad that they actually had to consider selling the factory.

Han-Yeol suddenly came in clutch for Sung Jin Factory by introducing the Horus raid party, which placed a huge order that was going to eventually resolve all of the factory’s financial problems.

How big was the ‘huge order’? The single order placed by Mariam was double the amount the Sung Jin Factory had sold since its establishment. In fact, the order was so big that they would have to immediately halt all other orders to solely focus on this one.

This was obviously a huge win for the Sung Jin Factory as they only had to focus on manufacturing the products from the raw materials that the Horus raid party would bring.

It seemed that the only thing left for the Sung Jin Factory to do was to grow from now on.

“You did great holding on for so long, ahjussi. Now, you only have to focus on growing your business.”

[I can’t find any words that could describe how thankful I am, Han-Yeol. This might not be the best way to repay you, but would you be interested in investing in our factory?]

“Invest?” Han-Yeol muttered in response.

He wondered, ‘Why is he bringing up investment all of a sudden?’

[Yes, I’ll be aiming to publicly list this company. I will need a lot of capital to properly do business with the Egyptians, but I don’t have much funds to expand the factory. I would have to turn to others for investment to kick-start things, but I’d prefer to have you as our major shareholder, Han-Yeol.]

“Hmm… Is that so?” Han-Yeol muttered as his interest was greatly piqued by the offer.

It was going to be extremely easy for the Sung Jin Factory to grow as long as they continued doing business with the Egyptians, no, as long as Han-Yeol was with the Horus raid party. In short, this was an investment where the ROI was as clear as day.

[Yes, I will have to start paying dividends to whoever I borrowed money from later on, so why not let it be you? You are our greatest benefactor, after all.]

“That sounds great. There will not be any problems with the Horus raid party as long as I am with them, so the factory’s business is as good as guaranteed. Around how much do you need, ahjussi?”

‘Is he going to ask for around five hundred billion won…?’?Han-Yeol wondered.

He was a classic case of learning about money through books or TV shows. In short, he had no idea how much money was worth since he had no real-life experience with it.

[Hmm… The more you invest the better, but I think around fifty billion… No, ten billion will suffice.]

The Sung Jin Factory needed at least fifty billion won to proceed with its expansion plans. Sung-Jin’s father knew that Hunters made a lot of money, but he expected Han-Yeol to not have that much money to invest, so he immediately lowered the amount to ten billion won.

“Please wait a minute…” Han-Yeol said before he sat in front of his computer and logged into his bank account online. Then, he wired the investment to the Sung Jin Factory’s account and said, “Ahjussi, I wired the investment to you, so please check it and give me the necessary paperwork later.”

[…! Fifty… Fifty billion won?!]

Han-Yeol could hear Sung-Jin’s father shouting on the other end of the line.

“Yes, fifty billion won is not that big of an amount, so why would I be stingy in investing in the factory? Anyway, how much share will I be getting with that amount?”

[T-Thank you… Ah, your share will be around… Let’s make it fifty-fifty. You and I will have an equal stake in the factory.]

“Oh, is that alright?”

[Y-Yeah. I will be sending you the documents through my staff tomorrow. Thank you very much once again, Han-Yeol.]

“Keke! You just have to work hard and repay me with results, ahjussi!”

[I will do my best. I promise.]

The deal with Sung-Jin’s father proceeded smoothly as he was quite a straightforward businessman, and Han-Yeol could feel the man’s experience of having done business through the years.

“Then, I will be hanging up now.”

[Alright, let’s have a drink with Sung-Jin next time.]

“Yes, ahjussi.”

Beep!

Once the phone disconnected, Han-Yeol thought, ‘Phew… Mariam is really good at what she does.’

Mariam might appear to be cold and indifferent, but she actually had a very warm personality on the inside. She might have been overshadowed by Tayarana all this time, but she was fine with it as she had made it her life’s purpose to live for her master.

Han-Yeol switched off his computer before going up to the building’s rooftop.

Click… Clack…!

He opened the door and was immediately greeted by a scenery that he only saw on TV the moment he stepped out to the rooftop.

Chirp! Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!?

He could hear the sparrows chirping in the distance. This place was not that far away from Seoul, but he felt like he was in a quiet countryside surrounded by nature. Of course, the fact that most of the properties here were mansions owned by wealthy individuals made it far from a countryside, but it was still a very quiet and serene environment.

This was something Han-Yeol never got to feel in Seoul. His younger days in Seoul had been quite a tumultuous one, and this was probably the first time in his life that he felt such peace and tranquility.

Sukeok! Sukeok! Sukeok! Sukeok!?

He could also hear the Egyptian helpers trimming the garden with large shears. The garden had been a mess compared to the mansion’s neatly maintained interior even though the previous owner had hired two people to manage this place.

‘Tsk… How could they brazenly ask me to hire them when they did such a lousy job in maintaining this place?’?Han-Yeol clicked his tongue and grumbled inwardly. He recalled how brazen the couple had been when they first approached him.

‘I would probably have fired them not long after. Yeah, it’s the right choice even if I think about it a hundred times…’?Han-Yeol justified his decision as he found it quite difficult to trust irresponsible people.

***

The next day, Han-Yeol brought Yoo-Bi and the Mulan team members to Bundang.

Vrooom!?

“Are you going to hunt alone today, oppa?” Yoo-Bi asked.

“Yeah,” Han-Yeol replied.

“Mariam told you that you can use the Egyptian Hunters anytime you wish, right? Why not bring a few of them with you?”

Yoo-Bi was currently very worried. This hunting ground was the same place they had hunted in a few days ago, but they had hunted with the entire Horus raid party back then. The fact that Han-Yeol wanted to solo-hunt in this place was more than enough to make her worried and scared.

“Are you worried?”

“Of course I am! It was not that long ago since we hunted in this hunting ground with the entire Horus raid party! How can someone not be worried in this circumstance?!”

“Well… I guess you do have a point…” Han-Yeol muttered nonchalantly.

“Oppa! This isn’t about someone else! You are going to be directly affected by this as well!”

“I know, and it’s fine. I’m not going to go all out as we did with the Horus raid party. I’m going to take it slowly and hunt them one by one.”

Han-Yeol had decided to pass on using the Egyptian Hunters for his own personal hunts for now because he still felt awkward with them. He was not that close to any of them aside from Mariam and Tayarana, so he preferred to come and hunt alone instead of having an awkward atmosphere with the Egyptian Hunters he was not close with.

Pssht!

“How’s the filming preparation coming along, Soo-In?” Han-Yeol asked through the walkie-talkie.

Actually, he was just changing the subject to avoid Yoo-Bi’s nagging.

Pssht!

[We are good to go. We just have to install the relay antenna at the entrance.]

“Alright, roger that.”

A banner of Han-Yeol’s plan to solo-hunt in the Paradise Field was already posted on the Golem Mania TV’s main page. Thanks to the banner, the Golem Mania TV’s lobby was full of people demanding for the Level Up TV to start streaming.

[Ah! When will it start?!]

[I’m going to die from waiting!]

[The suspense is killing me!]

[Hey! Start already!]

[Is he really going to hunt solo today? I wonder if I’ll get to see Yoo-Bi today…]

[I hope we will be able to see her…]

Most of the viewers who subscribed and donated to Level Up TV were Yoo-Bi’s fans. The fact that a beautiful girl like her was shooting guns in the hunting ground seemed to have attracted a horde of people.

A while later, the Level Up TV finally started its main countdown. There were thirty minutes left before the stream was going to go live.

[Oh! It’s finally here!]

[Mwahahaha!]

[I bought a V Ticket! Bring it on!]

A horde of viewers braced themselves in front of their screens, impatiently waiting for the thirty-minute timer to finish.