Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 286 – Shaky Politics (3)

‘Time to go back.’ Han-Yeol decided it was time for him to go back home after sending the demons back to the demon world.

Suddenly, Mavros cried out to get his attention, “Kieeek!”

Having spent a considerable amount of time with Mavros, Han-Yeol had learned to differentiate some of Mavros’ cries, and he felt that he was being called right now. He quickly asked, “What’s wrong, Mavros?”

“Kiek!”

Tak! Tak!

After grabbing Han-Yeol's attention, Mavros stomped on the ground and made a digging motion.

“What’s wrong?”

Thud! Thud!

He knew that Mavros was not the type to disturb him for no reason, so he decided to go and take a look.

"Kiek!" Mavros started crying out louder after Han-Yeol approached.

"Hmm?"

Surprisingly, there was a white egg with bright yellow spots buried underneath the ground.

“An egg?!”

“Kieeek!”

Mavros seemed to desperately want to convey something to Han-Yeol as he kept rubbing his head on Han-Yeol’s arm.

This was something he often did whenever he was hungry and asking for food, but that was definitely not the case right now, so Han-Yeol had no idea what he wanted.

“What’s this egg for…?” Han-Yeol wondered before he picked up the egg.

Tak…

“Oh? It’s warm.”

The egg was the size of an ostrich egg and surprisingly warm.

‘Karvis.’

[Analyzing.]

Ding!

[Dragon Egg]

Type: Egg

Description: Dragon Egg

That was the end of the description.

“…?”

[T-That is all…]

‘Really?’

[Y-Yes…]

‘That’s not surprising at all since I couldn’t be THAT lucky.’ Han-Yeol shook his head in disappointment. ‘She can be so useless sometimes!’

He was obviously upset, but he decided to suppress his anger since this was a common occurrence.

“Hey, Mavros, are you so worked up because you might get a friend from this egg?”

“Kiek! Kiek!” Mavros frivolously nodded.

‘Hmm? Will it be possible to hatch this egg?’ Han-Yeol wondered.

He could easily fertilize and hatch the egg if it was similar to the monster eggs he had handled until now, but this egg had too little information for him to come up with a solution.

‘Well, a solution would appear somewhere down the line, I guess.’

“I’ll put this in your lair, Mavros.”

“Kieeeek!”

Slurp!

Mavros cried out in joy and licked Han-Yeol's cheek. This was not something he would usually do, but it seemed that he was truly overjoyed.

“Let’s go, Mavros.”

“Kiek!”

Mavros wagged his tail like a happy puppy as he left the hunting ground with Han-Yeol.

***

Another storm of confusion swept across South Korea; this time, it was the news of the death of the country’s strongest Hunter, the Hallasan Monster, Kim Tae-San. The news of his death was immediately relayed to the media, and it spread like wildfire.

Han-Yeol originally planned to keep the news of Kim Tae-San’s death a secret. However, he gave the matter another thought and realized that he had fought against him fair and square, and he had the justification to kill him in the first place.

In other words, there was nothing for Han-Yeol to feel guilty about. In fact, things could become quite bothersome for him if he decided to keep the matter a secret and facts came to light later on.

The first thing Han-Yeol did after leaving the hunting ground was to meet with the executives of his newly-formed HY Group and his legal team, and then break the news to the public.

[What…? Kim Tae-San is dead?]

[He died in a duel against Lee Han-Yeol?]

[Does that make sense…?]

[I don’t see any reason it won’t.]

[No! Kim Tae-San is our country’s strongest Hunter! Kim Tae-San!]

[What? I know Kim Tae-San The Thug, but I’m not sure who you're talking about as the strongest Hunter.]

[But why did Lee Han-Yeol kill Kim Tae-San?]

[Isn’t it a huge crime for Hunters to kill each other?]

[There are two punishments handed down for killing a Hunter. The plaintiff is free to choose which one they would rather go with: the death penalty or working for the country for thirty years.]

[…You want our country’s 'now' strongest Hunter to waste away working for the government…?]

[No! That doesn’t make sense!]

The media was in an uproar, and they were split into two equal sides: Self-Defence versus Murder. However, the video published by the HY Group sent another shockwave throughout the country.

[What is this…? Is this for real?]

[So Kim Tae-San was a monster all along?]

[He was hiding his identity the whole time?!]

[Wow! That just gave me the chills!]

[I never imagined someone could kill their subordinates without batting an eye.]

[That’s cruel! He’s too cruel!]

The video showed the Tamra raid party attacking the Gurkha raid party first, Kim Tae-San attacking the Gurkha raid party, and lastly, Kim Tae-San absorbing his subordinates' mana.

But how was everything recorded without fail when the Mulan team had not been with Han-Yeol at that time? That was just how thorough Han-Yeol’s preparation had been. He had prepared quite thoroughly to prove that his actions were indeed in self-defense.

In other words, he could now prove that he killed Kim Tae-San in self-defense, and not a single gap existed in his alibi.

***

The government found itself in a tight spot due to Han-Yeol's preparation. The first thing that came to their minds after hearing that Han-Yeol had killed Kim Tae-San was to force him into thirty years of servitude to the government. There were a lot of things they could do with a Master Rank Hunter bound to them for thirty years, after all.

Unfortunately, the video ruined all of their plans, as anyone could see from it that Han-Yeol had indeed killed Kim Tae-San out of self-defense.

The president of South Korea let out a sigh and asked, “Haa… What should we do?”

“…”

“…”

The ministers were left speechless at the meeting. What could they say in the first place when the video proved that it was indeed self-defense?

Unfortunately, they still had to reply as the president was asking them a question.

“E-Excuse me, sir…?”

“Yes?”

“I advise that we call in the chairman of the association first. Matters related to the Hunters are shared between the government and the association, after all.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” the president replied and nodded.

He then instructed his secretary to call the chairman of the Hunters’ Association to come in at once.

One hour later…

Click… Clack…!

The meeting room door opened.

“Why have you called this old man on the verge of dying from old age?”

An old man who appeared to be at least one hundred years old entered the meeting room. He had wrinkly skin and a hunched back, supporting himself with a cane held in both hands.

“W-What?!”

Thud!

The president and ministers shot up from their seats after the old man entered the room, and some of them accidentally knocked their chairs over.

Nobody paid any attention to the chairs being knocked over as something much more important was happening in front of their eyes.

“W-Woo…! Chairman Woo!”

“W-Why are you personally here, chairman-nim?!”

Everyone looked baffled at the sudden appearance of the old man, and nobody seemed able to say anything.

“Hmm? Weren’t you the ones that summoned me here? I got a call asking me to come to the Blue House.”

“N-No, we called your grandson, chairman-nim. We did not request for you to personally come here…”

“Hmm…”

The people present in the meeting room were powerful figures running South Korea. Not a single one of them had been born without a silver spoon in their mouths, and all of them had received a quality education. However, all of them were finding it difficult to utter a word in the presence of a single old man.

“P-Please sit here, chairman-nim.”

The South Korean President, Kim Sang-Gon, offered his chair at the head of the meeting table to the old man.

The old man, Chairman Woo, naturally sat in the chair as if the spot belonged to him in the first place. Then, he asked, “Hmm… So, what did you want to say if my grandson came here?”

“T-That is…” President Kim stuttered while stealing a glance at the minister in charge of the current situation.

Then…

Bam!

“Ack!”

President Kim Sang-Gon suddenly saw stars above his head, and his eyes were spinning as a sharp pain radiated from his head.

“Hmm… How can the president be so spineless?” Chairman Woo asked.

The reason President Kim was in pain was that the old man smacked him with his cane. The cane came at such fast speeds that normal people would not be able to see.

“I… I apologize, chairman-nim…” President Kim replied while rubbing his head.

Hitting the head of the president was not something anyone would be able to do, no matter who it was. However, nobody in the meeting room stopped the old man. Instead, they treated it as if it was quite normal for him to do so.

“Tsk tsk… Let me ask again, what were you planning to tell my grandson?””

“T-That is… we were wondering whether we should categorize the recent Master Rank Hunter murder case as self-defense or if this matter should be handled by the prosecution.”

Seuk… Seuk…

“Hoho! As expected.”

The old man's eyes were quite small and his gaze mysterious, but his charisma was far from weak. Then, the old man flashed a strange smile before saying, “It seems that boy from Mount Halla met an unfitting end as a Master Rank Hunter.”

“Y-Yes, that is correct…!”

The death of a Master Rank Hunter was a significant topic not only in South Korea but also in other countries. The fact that this event took place in South Korea, which was a strategic ally in East Asia, made neighboring nations pay closer attention to what was happening.

The death of Kim Tae-San presented advantages and disadvantages for the current Korean government. The first and most obvious benefit was that they did not have to get dragged around by the Tamra guild from now on.

The country might have lost a Master Rank Hunter, but South Korea already possessed more Master Rank Hunters on average compared to other countries. It was estimated that one Master Rank Hunter would appear for every ten million people, but South Korea possessed a whopping seven Master Rank Hunters despite the population being only fifty million people.

The country’s Master Rank Hunters were reduced to six after Kim Tae-San died. This was indeed a huge loss for the country, but there were bound to be great returns when big things were lost.

“I saw the video too.”

“Y-You did, chairman-nim?”

‘I thought he didn’t care about what was happening in the world…?’ President Kim was surprised to hear that the old man had already watched the video.

“I think I should personally meet that youngster.”

“P-Pardon me?!”

“What?!”

“W-Why?!”

The entire meeting erupted into another uproar at the old man’s words.

“C-Chairman-nim…! You are officially registered as deceased, but why would you do something so rash?”

“Hoho! Don’t be so worried. I’m not going to show myself outside as it will be my grandson meeting that child and not me.”

“Ah…”

The ministers let out a sigh of relief at the old man’s words.

But why were they so relieved?

Who was this old man?

Why was he officially declared dead?

“Hoho…!”

The old man let out a cryptic laugh as he slowly opened his eyes.