I Alone Level-Up

Jinwoo had expected the inquiry and replied calmly,

"It was just there when I woke up. I don"t know what happened."

Song Chiyeol nodded. Since the day the first Gate appeared 10 years ago, many incredible things had happened in the world. One of them was the phenomenon of Awakened Beings, now called Hunters. Among the S-rank Healer-cla.s.s Hunters, there were those that could completely restore the body of a teammate that had their bodies ripped apart. As long as the victim had a shred of life left in them, they could be made whole. So it wasn"t crazy to think that some high ranking Healer had restored Jinwoo"s leg.

"It wouldn"t have been right for such a young person to become a cripple. Thank goodness for that."

Song Chiyeol sighed in relief. Jinwoo"s eyes moved over to the old man"s left arm. The sleeve that covered it was clearly empty. Song Chiyeol laughed at his gaze and rubbed his left shoulder.

"Don"t worry about this. It"s normal for a Hunter my age to get into an accident in a Raid. I was just lucky that I got this far before having one."

Song Chiyeol spoke to put Jinwoo"s mind at ease, but his words did not reach the onlookers.

"Oh my, that man…"

"How terrible, it must"ve been from a magic beast."

The people pa.s.sing by whispered to each other at the man"s missing arm. Some children stopped and blatantly stared.

Jinwoo hoped to rescue the man,

"Should we move to somewhere quieter?"

There were too many people walking buy. Feeling uncomfortable from their gazes, Song Chiyeol nodded in agreement. There were still few things he wanted to say to Jinwoo.

"Yes, that would be good."

The two men tried to find a small corner to continue their conversation. While walking, Song Chiyeol noticed something,

"Sung-ssi"s footsteps…"

Jinwoo"s footsteps were incredibly light. Even standing right next to him, Song Chiyeol had difficulty detecting the man"s presence. How could this be? The veteran Hunter felt that if he and Jinwoo fought in this moment, he could not even touch the young man. Even if he was a C-ranker, while Jinwoo was an E-ranker.

"What am I thinking now…"

Song Chiyeol shook his head. None of that mattered in the moment. There was something he wanted say to Sung-ssi. No, it was something that had to be said. Having found a suitable place, Song Chiyeol stopped and Jinwoo followed suit. Turning around to face him, Song Chiyeol bowed his head to Jinwoo before the young man could stop him.

"Sung-ssi. I have to thank you."

As the man who was old enough to be his father bowed to him, Jinwoo became somber. Even as the young man tried to stop him, Song Chiyeol did not relent and continued with his head lowered.

"Eleven people died because of me. Thanks to you, six of us were able to live. As my responsibility was the heaviest in that place, I thank you on behalf of everyone else."

Every word he spoke was out of his heart. Even Jinwoo was able to feel the man"s sincerity. It was an unexpected situation, but Jinwoo did not feel bad. Rather, he felt a twinge of pride. But he could not have an elder bow to him like this forever.

"Ahjussi, please raise your head."

At Jinwoo"s pleading words, Song Chiyeol raised his head. Just then, his phone rang. The old man apologized and turned away to pick it up.

"Got it. I"ll be right there."

Ending the call, Song Chiyeol"s face was hardened. He turned to address Jinwoo,

"I have to go somewhere now."

The elder spoke as if he had a private business to take care of, but Jinwoo had already heard the entire conversation through his ears. Thanks to his raised sense stat, his naturally good hearing was improved even more. The phone call just now was from the a.s.sociation, who was notifying Song Chiyeol of a Gate that had appeared. Worrying about the recently discharged Jinwoo, the old man hid this information and was trying to walk away, but Jinwoo had no intention of letting this slip from his hands.

"It was the a.s.sociation, right?"

"You… you heard all that?"

The a.s.sociation will call all of its affiliated Hunters in an area in the event of a Raid. If Song Chiyeol was contacted, surely Jinwoo would"ve been too, if he had his phone. This was the call that Jinwoo had been waiting for.

"I"ll go too."

"Young man…"

Song Chiyeol"s eyes looking at Jinwoo was quickly filled with defeat.

-

The two men arrived at the appointed location. Because the Gate had appeared in a residential area, the police were already around, cordoning off the area. However, there was little need, as there were no noisy civilians watching. The Gates that the a.s.sociation ended up taking care of were those on the verge of Dungeon Break, so the people stayed away in case of danger. Besides, it wasn"t as if they could watch the Hunters battle in the Dungeon anyways. Every now and then, a curious child might approach with mischief, but they would be chased away by the police.

Jinwoo and Song Chiyeol got off the taxi and were stopped by the police.

"Could you please show me your identification?"

Song Chiyeol took out his Hunter license from his wallet.

"C-rank Hunter, Song Chiyeol. This is my fellow Hunter, Sung Jinwoo."

Satisfied, the policeman let the pair through.

"We"re in your care, Hunter-nims."

"We"ll do our best. Thank you for your service."

After exchanging light greetings, the two began to walk towards the Gate. Jinwoo walked behind the old man. In front of the Gate, an a.s.sociation employee was waiting. It was a young woman with gla.s.ses. She approached the pair,

"Hunter Song Chiyeol-nim! Huh? How did Hunter Sung Jinwoo-nim get here? You weren"t picking up the phone."

Song Chiyeol replied for Jinwoo,

"We were together when I got the call."

"Oh, is that so? We just thought Hunter Sung Jinwoo-nim was avoiding the call again."

The employee smiled in jest. A long time ago, she would have been correct. Having received a major injury during a Raid, Jinwoo once even turned off his phone in fear. However, he had to eventually relent and show up because refusing the a.s.sociation"s call three times would result in an expulsion. Thinking about the past, Jinwoo smiled bittersweetly.

"Ah, right. The other Hunters are already here. Why don"t you go and say hi?"

The employee gestured to the other Hunters. There were only two of them waiting. After the incident at the Double Dungeon, the number of Hunters in the area had decreased greatly. According to Song ahjussi, two of the surviving Hunters even chose to retire out of trauma.

"And Juhee-ssi was one of them…"

Jinwoo looked around but did not see Juhee. As the two men approached, the Hunters who had arrived before them avoided his gaze. Jinwoo"s eyes narrowed.

"Of course…"

It was two of the men who had abandoned him back in the underground temple, Kim Sangs.h.i.+k and the man who cast aside Jinwoo"s injured body to the ground. It made sense that they were avoiding him.

"Er, Sung-ssi…"

Kim Sangs.h.i.+k gathered his courage and tried to make a late greeting but was rebuffed by Jinwoo"s cold eyes.

"…"

The man closed his mouth and walked away. From a distance away, he looked at Jinwoo and tilted his head.

"Is that human really the Sung Jinwoo that I knew? His eyes were fierce like a magic beast"s…"

Kim Sangs.h.i.+k"s body shuddered. His arms were covered in gooseb.u.mps. It was not his fault, Jinwoo had lightly applied a killing intent in his gaze. Thankfully, the man had taken the hint and avoided him. Jinwoo had hoped he would continue to do so going forward.

"Sung-ssi,"

Song Chiyeol, who was standing next to Jinwoo, suddenly smiled.

"There she comes."

Jinwoo started turning his head towards where the elder was gesturing, but before he fully could,

"Jinwoo-ssi!"

Something soft hugged him tightly.

"Juhee-ssi?"

As Jinwoo panicked, Juhee examined his body with tears in her eyes.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere? Your leg! How is your leg-?"

Juhee looked back and forth between Jinwoo"s face and legs with surprise. The magnitude was different, but her response was the same as Song Chiyeol.

"Ah, that"s…"

Jinwoo"s explanation was interrupted by a loud voice,

"Ah, young love! Hot hot hot!"

A man in prisoner"s uniform was whistling towards them, having just gotten out of a car.

"Are they filming a movie nearby?"

As Jinwoo stared with confusion, a man wearing a suit got out of the pa.s.senger seat of the car. The man gave a stern warning to the prisoner,

"Shut your mouth."

The prisoner avoided his gaze and looked away. While the man in the suit turned back to the car, the prisoner winked at Juhee. Jinwoo"s forehead furrowed. From the car, two additional men got out. They were all wearing a prisoner"s uniform and handcuffed. The man in the suit led the three prisoners towards the a.s.sociation employee and greeted her.

"You"re finally here."

"Sorry. There was a little traffic on the way."

The a.s.sociation employee handed the man some papers, and he began to sign them one by one. Meanwhile, the a.s.sociation employee called over all the Hunters.

"These men are prisoners on a work-release program[1] that will be going with the Hunter-nims into the Raid."

The Hunters" expressions darkened. Kim Sangs.h.i.+k stepped forward,

"Prisoners on work-release? You"re telling us to Raid with criminals?"

Hunters who had committed crimes had two choices. Fulfill their sentences away in a prison or cooperate with the a.s.sociation and reduce their sentences. Most chose the latter. These criminals would be on "work-release". The employee apologetically bowed before the Hunters.

"I really have to apologize. The number of Hunters in our area had decreased too drastically. The a.s.sociation said we had no choice for the time being. Thankfully, a Hunter from the Hunter Surveillance Department will be accompanying you, so you shouldn"t have to worry."

Kim Sangs.h.i.+k asked suspiciously,

"The HSD Hunter will be going with us too?"

Translator"s Notes:

[1]: "prisoners on a work-release program"(대체 복역자): Not gonna lie, I have no idea what this means. I just used my best guess based on context… Sorry...