Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 98: A Date with the Goddess (5)

Fortunately, the bothersome crowd was not able to enter the mall with them… Not that the trio cared.

Of course, the crowd vehemently protested against the mall staffers.

“Hey, this is a public area open to everyone! Why are you stopping us from entering? You are trampling on our rights as consumers! Are you looking down on us?!”

The reporters were even louder compared to the others, screaming at the top of their lungs like a horde of frenzied monsters. It was understandable that they would be so worked up and not back down without a fight as landing an interview with the goddess was going to boost their career.

Also, they were technically not in the wrong, as it was unheard of for mall staffers to prevent people from entering a mall due to the presence of a VIP.

However, the mall security manager did not budge an inch as he deployed even more security staff just in case a riot occurred.

“We apologize for the inconvenience but our mall will be closing for today,” the security manager said.

“What bullshit is this?” the crowd protested.

“The Horus raid party has rented the entire mall as their personal space for the entire day, and they have requested that anyone not a member of their raid party be barred entry.”

“W-What?!”

The crowd was flabbergasted at the fact that the Horus raid party was able to rent out the entire shopping mall. It was a testament to how wealthy they were.

As the entire crowd watched the trio disappear further into the mall with desperate eyes, one of the reporters spotted other customers shopping in the mall. He pointed at them and protested once again, “What about them?! They don’t look like members of the Horus raid party! Aren’t they civilians just like us?!”

The security manager glanced at the people in the mall and nonchalantly replied, “The restriction only applies to people entering after the Horus raid party entered. Those customers will not be disturbed as long as they do not disturb anyone from the raid party. The Horus raid party decided that there is no need to kick out the customers who were already in the mall before them.”

“Ugh…”

“Damn it…”

“Why did I leave…?”

There was no way that the reporters were going to try and force their way into this specific shopping mall no matter how shameless they were. After all, this place was under the influence of the Hunters’ Association.

Reporters were known to pull all sorts of stunts just to get an exclusive scoop, but there were certain taboos for them as well. The taboo that sat on the top of the list was to not mess with the Hunters’ Association.

Anyway, the crowd ended up having to watch the goddess disappear right in front of their eyes.

“Damn it, I thought I was going to be able to get an exclusive scoop…”

“Don’t you think that bastard Lee Han-Yeol is a bit too much?”

The reporters slowly started to direct their anger toward the Korean Hunter with the goddess, who was definitely an easier target.

“Yeah, how can he do this to his fellow compatriots? He should be helping us instead!”

“Is he now an Egyptian just because he’s joined the Horus raid party? He only got lucky because he is a Healer, right? He is going to be left all alone in Korea once the Horus raid party goes back to Egypt.”

“That’s right! It seems like he doesn’t know how to socialize at all!”

“Ha! Just wait and see! I’m going to chase him to the depths of hell once he slips up and does something!”

The reporters did not watch Han-Yeol’s broadcast, Level-Up TV. They were too busy chasing after the top guilds and raid parties, so they would not have time for someone like Han-Yeol no matter how much he promoted his channel. After all, someone small like him was never going to be of interest to them.

Some reporters had watched his broadcast after hearing that the goddess was featured in it, but most of them only watched a part of it, and their entire focus was centered on her.

That was the reason why none of them had any idea what role Han-Yeol had in the Horus raid party.

***

Han-Yeol started shopping with Tayarana and Mariam. The bodyguards were no longer surrounding them, but they were at a distance to stop others from approaching the trio.

The bodyguards were used to ward off people rather than for the trio’s protection because the Korean bodyguards were ordinary people while the Egyptian bodyguards were FRank Hunters. All of them combined would not even be able to make a scratch on Mariam, who was the weakest one in terms of combat strength among the three.

In short, these three did not really need protection to begin with, and only needed the bodyguards so that they could shop in peace.

Meanwhile, Han-Yeol was having the time of his life being sandwiched between two beautiful roses.

[What do you say? Is there anything you want?] he asked.

[I think it’s true that your country is more developed than mine. There are a lot of luxury goods that I have never seen in Egypt.]

[I agree. The mall facilities are quite excellent. In fact, we do not have such facilities back home, and it feels as if every single product in the world has gathered here.]

Most Koreans, even the not-so-patriotic ones, would suddenly feel patriotic whenever they heard foreigners praising their country. Han-Yeol was no exception as he could not help but feel proud.

[Well, our country’s economy has been suffering in recent times, but the fact that we are one of the trendiest markets in the world has not changed. Some say that whatever works here will work anywhere else in the world too, so most western countries tend to test their product’s market reception by selling it here first,] Han-Yeol proudly explained.

[That’s amazing,] Tayarana replied in awe.

[I cannot help but feel envious of your country’s success,] Mariam commented.

Tayarana and Mariam were extremely wealthy individuals, but even people like them seemed to have fun window shopping.

[Is the Korean Hunters’ Association managing this mall?] Tayarana asked.

[Yeah, but they aren’t managing it alone. Rather, they have teamed up with various conglomerates to manage it,] Han-Yeol replied.

[Hmm… I should meet with the Chairman of the Hunters’ Association. I think it will be a good idea to recreate a mall like this in Egypt too.]

[Really?]

[That is an excellent idea, Tayarana-nim.]

[Ah, I’m going to buy everything here as well.]

[R-Really?]

[Yes.]

Han-Yeol could not help but be flabbergasted at Tayarana’s extravagant shopping, but he soon composed himself and calmly translated what she had just said to a staffer.

The staffer’s reaction? It was quite obvious.

“H-Heok!?A… Are you serious?!”

Aside from the staffer at the luxury goods section, even the manager sent by the mall’s management was shocked by what Han-Yeol was saying. They were somewhat aware that the S Rank Hunter in front of them came from a very wealthy family and that she herself was quite wealthy as well, but they never imagined in their wildest dreams that she was going to come and buy everything up.

She did mention that she had come to sightsee around the mall, but the mall’s management never imagined that they were already going to strike the jackpot from the first section.

‘J-Jackpot!’?the manager exclaimed inwardly.

The Hunter section of the mall was seeing an increase in revenue day by day, but the normal section of the mall was seeing a decrease in revenue due to the country’s economic decline. Of course, the higher management did not see that as an excuse and continued berating the ones in charge of the normal section.

Needless to say, this was a godsend opportunity for the normal section to not only hit their sales targets but to achieve their sales quota to get their bonus incentive as well.

[Where do you want these to be delivered, Tara?] Han-Yeol asked.

[Delivery?]

[Yes, why?]

[They deliver things aside from food too?]

[Of course, why wouldn’t they?]

[Excuse me, Han-Yeol-nim,] Mariam interrupted.

[Yes?]

[I think Tayarana-nim is surprised that all of these can be delivered as not many places can pull this off.]

[Oh, really?]

[Yes.]

[Ah, I’m sorry for the misunderstanding, Tara.]

[…]

Han-Yeol might have been imagining things, but he felt that Tayarana was sulking right now. He wondered, ‘Come on, I must be seeing things.’?

He soon shrugged off the thought. There was no way that a person of Tayarana’s caliber was going to sulk so easily in the first place, right?

“Please deliver the goods to this address. Oh, please make sure all of it gets delivered to the doorsteps, okay?” Mariam said as she extended her business card to the manager.

“Y-Yes! I understand!” the manager exclaimed.

Their first purchase was done, but these two were only getting started. Tayarana and Mariam did not shop in an average way where they would buy individual things they liked. They would walk into a shop and ask for everything between point A to point B, then pay for it with their credit card.

“How much is it?” Mariam asked.

“That will be 158 million won, ma’am.”

“Here you go, please charge it in full.”

“I-I understand.”

They spent 158 million won in the blink of an eye at a luxury bag shop, and proceeded to spend more than one billion won in just three hours.

Of course, this was a huge figure to spend in such a short period of time, but that was only from Han-Yeol’s point of view as Tayarana and Mariam seemed to be only getting started. In fact, they looked like they were not satisfied at all.

As the shopping continued without showing any signs of ending, Han-Yeol groaned inwardly, ‘Ugh… I’m a Hunter and I can say my stamina is quite good, but…why am I so tired?’

It was at this moment that he realized that he still had a long way to go despite thinking that he was an avid shopper himself. He never imagined that he was going to get tired from shopping since he was now a Hunter and his stamina was quite good, but his delusion had instantly been shattered in three hours. The feeling of fatigue and exhaustion that he did not feel even while working out overtook his body.

‘What the hell…? Why do I feel so tired?’?he wondered.

They said that even an athlete was going to get tired if they were dragged around in a shopping mall, and this saying seemed to apply to Hunters as well.

The trio soon arrived at the men’s corner. Tayarana and Mariam then looked at each other before they turned their gaze to Han-Yeol.

[Why? What’s wrong?] Han-Yeol asked.

The two looked at each other again and nodded.

[Han-Yeol.]

[Han-Yeol-nim.]

[Yes? Why?]

Han-Yeol looked at them while tilting his head in confusion. He was already exhausted from being dragged around, so he wondered what they wanted this time…

***

‘Ugh… I’m so tired…’?Han-Yeol groaned inwardly while lying on a bench at the center of the mall, and with him were more than twenty shopping bags littered on the ground. He grumbled, ‘That damned duo… What right do they have to comment on my fashion sense?’?

He had thought they were only going to pass by the men’s corner. However, his expectations had been way off the mark as the two forcefully dragged him around and did a whole fashion show with him as their model for nearly two hours.

The shopaholic duo had simply waltzed into a shop and pointed from point A to point B before buying all of it. Then, they had moved on to the next shop, forcing Han-Yeol, against his wishes, to try on every single piece of clothing they could find and buy for him. Of course, they had paid for it as well and forced him to take it.

‘I’m rich too, you know?!’?Han-Yeol exclaimed inwardly in frustration after being forced to become a mannequin for nearly two hours.

His fashion show had drained all of his energy, and the women seemed to have gotten bored of him as they abandoned him at a bench to resume their shopping.

“Haa…”?

Just as Han-Yeol was tasting the sweet nectar of this gift called ‘rest’, two beautiful women carefully walked up to him.

“E-Excuse me…”

“Yes? What is it?” Han-Yeol asked.

He could tell from a single glance that they were not working with the mall.

Shwik!

They extended a pen and a piece of A4 paper to him and asked, “Can you please give us your autograph?!”

“Huh? My autograph?” Han-Yeol tilted his head in confusion.

“Yes!”

“We are huge fans of yours, Han-Yeol Hunter-nim! We watched all of your live streams for the entire week! We also bought V Tickets just to watch you! You’re so cool!”

“Kyahk!”

The two women exclaimed.

Han-Yeol was taken aback by the sudden autograph request. He did hear from Yoo-Bi and the Mulan team that the broadcast was a huge success, but he thought that the success was all thanks to Tayarana so he did not really bother himself with it. However, he could not help but be surprised and amazed at the same time now that someone was asking him for his autograph.

Han-Yeol took the ballpen and paper before signing it with a signature that he practiced just for fun from time to time. He then asked, “Your names?”

“Ah, my name is Yoo-Ri, Seo Yoo-Ri.”

“Hehe, my name is Yi-Bi, Shin Yi-Bi.”

“Your names are really nice,” Han-Yeol said while writing their names on the paper.

“Kyahk!?Thank you very much!”

The two screamed in joy after receiving Han-Yeol’s autograph. Then, they asked him if they could take a selfie together, to which he readily agreed.

The two beautiful women, Yoo-Ri and Yi-Bi, smiled brightly and left after taking a selfie with Han-Yeol.