Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 139: Boss Monster Raid (2)

[Aaah! Noonim! Mariam! You finally got your pets!]

A person with the powerful ability to instantly turn his surroundings rowdy had appeared. It was none other than the new tenant in Han-Yeol’s mansion, Mujahid.

[I thought I saw you leave a while ago. You’re back already?]

[Yes, I had a few things to buy, so I went to the Hunter Mall for a while. I like how shopping malls are quite developed in Korea, unlike Egypt. It is not that easy to find large malls like this in our country.]

Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah!?

Mujahid possessed the rare gift of responding with a thousand words to any question asked, and it was this ‘gift’ of his that made it hard for Tayarana and Mariam to put up with him. Ironically, he had no idea why the two disliked him so much, and there were numerous nights he would stay up wondering what exactly he was doing wrong.

[Excuse me, Han-Yeol-nim. Is it possible for me to get a pet as well? I am willing to pay the one trillion won fee too.]

Of course, it went without saying that Mujahid possessed great wealth outside of his family's wealth. He was a freelance Hunter affiliated with the Egyptian government, but he also quite frequently moonlighted for private raid parties and was handsomely rewarded for his services.

After all, he was a rather famous Osiric Rank Hunter in the market and his fees were quite high. On top of that, he possessed numerous businesses as a hobby, such as an automobile company, a horse racing track, poker websites, a construction company, and a famous European football team.

Thanks to his hobbies, he had amassed quite a fortune, and he was earning money for every second of any day.

It was difficult to assess just how much money Mujahid had, but it was assumed that his wealth totaled up to a massive thirty-four trillion won. He was definitely someone that one should not simply look down on because of his carefree personality. After all, he was like a viper ready to strike at any moment when it came to opportunities that could potentially make him more money.

[Should I? Well, I guess we’re going to spend a lot of time together from now on, so you’ll probably feel left out if you don’t get one.]

[Yahoo! Three cheers for the great warrior-nim!] Mujahid cheered and started to jump for joy after Han-Yeol agreed to sell him a monster pet.

Anyone who saw his actions right now would probably not imagine that he was an extremely wealthy individual with a net worth of thirty-four trillion won.

Mujahid might own several companies, but he personally liked working as a Hunter. Needless to say, he did not really concern himself with the operation of his companies. However, that did not mean that those running the companies in his stead would be able to steal from him; those loyal to the pharaoh’s household were closely monitoring all of his companies’ operations.

[In return, you will have to go get me a monster egg and fruit as well.]

[Yes! I will be right on it!]

Tak!

Mujahid saluted Han-Yeol before instantly running out.

***

Mujahid literally finished things at the speed of light. After going out with only a pair of gloves, he came back in three hours with a monster egg and fruit.

[Haa… Haa…?Han-Yeol-nim… Here…]

[Wow, you got them in record time. How did you get them so fast? You probably don’t even know the way.]

[Simple. I just grilled some of the underlings.] Mujahid grinned and cracked his knuckles.

‘I have no idea who that underling is, but I pray that he?rests?in peace…’?Han-Yeol inwardly wished whoever had been unfortunate enough to get caught by Mujahid.

He soon hatched the monster egg for Mujahid, and the monster that emerged was a baby black panther. Looking at the monster, he thought, ‘He does give off a black panther vibe as long as shuts his mouth…’

Mujahid’s mouth was the problem.

‘Well, as long as the monster suits him and he’s happy with it, I guess…’?Han-Yeol let out a sigh of relief after getting good monsters for others three times in a row.

He was charging one trillion won per monster, so the buyer had to get a monster to their liking to be happy.

Just like that, he ended up increasing his net worth by another one trillion won to become a grand total of four trillion won.

‘I think this will be more than enough funds for me to nurture Yoo-Bi,’?Han-Yeol thought as he planned for the future.

He was going to be quite busy as he had to become stronger, start and run multiple businesses, and play with Mavros.

Dudududu!

Han-Yeol was currently in a helicopter, and his destination was the expanded area in Sung Jin Factory where Yoo-Bi was at.

After deciding to work together with Sung-Jin’s father, the first thing that Han-Yeol had done was to purchase the lands surrounding Sung Jin Factory and construct a place where Yoo-Bi could use her abilities.

However, just because it was a part of the factory land, did it mean that the new business was a branch of Sung Jin Factory? This new company was one hundred percent owned and invested by Han-Yeol.

Han-Yeol entered the factory building and went to Yoo-Bi’s personal workshop.

Zhiiing! Zhiiiing!

Yoo-Bi was busy welding something with a welding mask on. She was so immersed in her work that she did not even notice Han-Yeol, who was only a few steps away from her.

‘It’s nice to see her so focused and engrossed in her work,’?Han-Yeol thought with a smile.

He had decided not to pursue her romantically, but that did not mean he no longer admired her for her work ethic.

Yoo-Bi looked much more charming now that she was all grown up and working hard for herself.

‘Hmm… I kind of feel annoyed at the thought that some lucky guy is going to end up with her…’?

Han-Yeol could feel his blood pressure rise. Perhaps this was because he sincerely thought of her as his little sister? Whatever it might be, he decided to take a step back and observe Yoo-Bi use her abilities.

Back when she worked as the MC of Han-Yeol’s channel, Yoo-Bi had been seen as quite beautiful and charming. However, she exuded a totally different charm now that she was working on something with a welding mask on while covered in grease.

‘Is this what they call a girl crush these days?’?he suddenly thought of a term he often saw on TV and the internet these days.

However, he could not be sure of the term’s usage. He was quite behind when it came to the social trend these days. After all, he only had time to watch the news whenever he was in front of the TV, and his schedule was quite jam-packed nowadays.

Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt! Ziiiing!

Yoo-Bi was drenched in sweat after she finished welding. Brushing her hair back, she took off the welding mask and finally noticed that Han-Yeol was standing next to her. “Oppa?”

“Yo~ Yoo-Bi!”

“You should’ve told me if you’re here,” Yoo-Bi said with a hint of annoyance in her voice as she glared at Han-Yeol.

“Haha, my bad. You looked quite charming while working, so I didn’t want to disturb you. When else would I get to see something like this? They only make those celebrities pose these days, but none of them actually does this kind of rough work, right? It’s quite nice to see an up-and-coming female engineer.”

“Hoho, I guess I’m somewhat great if you ask me,” she joked in response.

Frankly speaking, her dream was to be an architect or a celebrity, and she probably had never imagined in her wildest dreams that she was going to end up as a mechanical engineer.

That was the reason for her shock when she had first awakened with her abilities. She had no clue what she was supposed to do with her skill, so she had locked herself up in her room to try and come up with a plan. That was also why she hadn’t been able to call Han-Yeol immediately.

After a period of being in denial over her abilities, she had composed herself and decided to explore the potential her abilities had. It would have been much easier if she had received help from Han-Yeol right off the bat, but she, who had already been on the receiving end for so long, could not bring herself to request help from him. She also felt that her ability was nothing great, and this was the bigger reason that she had been ashamed to ask for his help.

However, she had soon realized in the end that Han-Yeol was the only person she could turn to for help. In the end, she had mustered up the courage to finally tell him about her abilities.

‘He was sincerely happy when I told him…’?Yoo-Bi reminisced.

Han-Yeol had been the first to propose that they sign a contract, and his trust had made her steel her resolve to do her very best after she had signed the contract.

Now, thanks to his support, Yoo-Bi was able to figure out her abilities to a certain extent.

‘Oppa said that I can become the best with my abilities as long as I work hard.’?She clenched her fist.

She had no knowledge of engineering or technology, but that did not mean she had no idea how the world worked. She did some further digging and found that there were no awakened beings who had the ability to create mechanical things like she did.

‘I’ll be the best in this monopoly, and I will repay everything oppa?has done?for me,’?she repeated this thought in her head over and over again.

Of course, Yoo-Bi could only create simple equipment as of right now, but she was willing to put in the effort to become useful to Han-Yeol one day.

“So, how’s your ability? Are you starting to get used to it?” Han-Yeol asked.

“Yes, I tried creating a few simple pieces of equipment. Actually, I just disassembled a few pieces of equipment commonly found in the market and I tried to create my own after studying it. Surprisingly, I found it quite complicated but fun at the same time,” Yoo-Bi replied.

“Ah, that’s great. I bet you’re starting to be aware of just how good your ability is, right?”

“Yes, but not only that, it’s fun too. I have a feeling that I’ll be able to earn a lot of money with this ability.”

“Hoho! That’s a given. You’re the only Mechanical Crafter in the world right now. There might be others in the future, but we just have to control the market before they start appearing.”

“Okay, oppa!”

“Give me five!” Han-Yeol raised his hand, inviting Yoo-Bi to give him a high-five.

Chak!

Now that their relationship had further evolved, they were like real siblings thanks to Han-Yeol’s effort.

After that, they spent nearly two hours discussing things related to their business. The business was just starting, so there were a lot of things they had to discuss with each other.

“Hmm… I haven’t seen that bag before, oppa,” Yoo-Bi suddenly said as she pointed at the black bag Han-Yeol was carrying in the middle of their discussion.

“Ah, this one?” Han-Yeol responded.

He was about to explain what the bag was when the flap suddenly opened to reveal a pair of crystal-clear eyes. Then, the icon of cuteness, Mavros, peeked his head out of the bag.

“Kyuuuu!”?The baby dragon was trying to say that he was hungry.

Han-Yeol had initially tried to feed him mealworms or insects since the baby dragon was technically a reptile-like being. However, the baby dragon had completely rejected his meal plan.

Just as he had been at a loss for what to do, Mavros had suddenly spotted Albert passing by with fresh chicken in his hand. Then, the baby black dragon had darted toward the old butler and devoured the chicken including its bones.

Han-Yeol started to feed fresh meat to his baby dragon from then onward, and Mavros’ favorite was fresh duck. It seemed that a dragon was quite the gourmet as he knew what expensive meat was.

Anyway, the baby dragon had been sleeping in the bag before suddenly waking up from hunger.

However, what awaited Mavros was not food but a difficult trial.

“Kyah!?So cute!”

Kwak!

“KYUUUUU!”

Yoo-Bi snatched Mavros from the bag and hugged him tightly while rubbing her face on him. It seemed that Mavros’ adorable charm was super effective on Yoo-Bi as well.

Squirm! Squirm! Squirm! Squirm!?

Mavros tried his best to break free, but he still wasn’t that strong yet. In fact, he was quite docile so he did not have the instinct to attack a human no matter how startled he was. Needless to say, there was no way another pet could be as lovable and adorable as Mavros.

“Mavros… Hang in there buddy…”

“Kyu…”?Mavros moaned with droopy ears when Han-Yeol did not help him.

“Oppa! What’s this thing? I think it’s a monster, but it’s so cute and it seems to listen to you! Did you manage to find it in a hunting ground?” Yoo-Bi asked while looking at Han-Yeol with eyes that revealed her desire to have a pet of her own.

This was a natural reaction by anyone who had been charmed by Mavros.

“No, nobody has ever successfully tamed a wild monster. It’s one of my skills that allows me to incubate and hatch a monster from a monster egg,” Han-Yeol explained.

“Hiiing…?Then, I guess I won’t be able to get one… You won’t be able to give the pet to me if it’s your skill, right?”

“Nope, I can. In fact, I already gave one each to Tayarana, Mariam, and Mujahid. Well, they did pay me one trillion won for them, so…”

“Hiiik!”?Yoo-Bi was shocked after hearing the monster pet’s price tag.

‘One… One trillion…!’?she exclaimed inwardly as she counted the zeroes in her head.

It was an astonishing figure that she had never even attempted to imagine in her life. Of course, she could probably reach that figure one day if she continued to train her ability, but that was only in the future.

“I’m sure you can earn that amount in no time if you work hard enough. I’ll give you one as soon as you have one trillion in your account. Oh, I’ll even prioritize yours and give you a partner discount.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely.”

Seuk… Seuk…?

Han-Yeol patted Yoo-Bi’s head.

He was quite generous to his people, but he also knew how to separate personal and business matters. There was no way he was going to give Yoo-Bi a pet for free.

Han-Yeol had given Yoo-Bi a high salary back when she had been his Porter. In fact, he was currently paying the same wage to the Porters who replaced her after she had awakened. In short, he did not pay her more because of favoritism or whatnot. He had chosen to give a higher salary right at the beginning due to his first-hand experience of how little the Porters had been getting paid.

Another reason that he refused to give Yoo-Bi a pet for free was he did not want to set a precedent for others. After all, there would definitely be a lot of other people clamoring for their own pets the moment they learned that he had given one out for free.

The best he could do for her right now was to guarantee her priority the moment she had the money prepared. He would also give her a little discount for old time’s sake.

“Alright! I will work really hard and earn that so you better get ready!” Yoo-Bi enthusiastically exclaimed as she steeled her resolve.