Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 76: Ready, Action! (2)

Tarayana’s soldiers rushed to where she was while shouting, [Tayarana-nim!]

[Tayarana-nim, how could this be?!] the soldiers could not believe what they were witnessing.

The Tarayana that they knew was an honorable warrior and a noble by birth, so how could such a person, who was born a noble, do such a lowly task? However, the words that came out of their noble warrior shocked them even further.

[You guys help out as well. Let us finish the rescue efforts as soon as possible,] Tarayana said.

[B-But!] the soldiers exclaimed in disagreement.

However, the soldiers had to obey Tarayana’s order at all costs no matter how much they hated the task. No one among them could dare disobey Tarayana’s order.

[These are Tarayana-nim’s orders. Besides, our enemies came after us all the way to this country, and they caused such a mess here. So, do not dare to dirty the name of our noble warrior and get to work no matter how lowly you think the job is. Pay extra care not to cause us trouble by disrespecting our host country,] the assistant said.

[Yes, we shall follow the orders!] the soldiers replied in unison.

They had no choice but to follow the orders since Tayarana was considered a noble in their country, and she was going to be a strange noble who acted like a lowly commoner if they continued to refuse her orders.

The Egyptian soldiers, who had come to subdue the terrorist, joined the rescue efforts.

Thud…!

“There is a survivor over here!” one of the firefighters shouted.

“Medic!” another urgently called for help.

An hour had gone by since the rescue efforts first started, and they were starting to find survivors buried under the rubble one by one.

The first person they had found was already dead, and this made the firefighters tear up in despair. Thankfully, the second one they had found was still alive, even though the survivor’s condition was not looking good at all.

“Medics! What the hell are you doing?!” the?captain shouted with obvious anger in his voice.

“T-There are three congressmen who got injured nearby, so the medics are making their way over there,” one of the firefighters answered the captain.

“What? Why the hell would three teams go there when only three people are hurt?” the captain asked furiously.

“W-We were told to bring all three teams to assist the three injured congressmen,” the firefighter said with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?!” the captain shouted as he lost his temper.

“I am sorry, sir,” the firefighter said.

“Aaaaaahk!”?The captain shouted in frustration before he kicked a nearby table, causing the items on top to scatter to the ground.

Bam!

“Are those bastards seriously hurt?” the captain asked.

“N-No sir, all three are said to have only suffered minor injuries…” the firefighter replied.

“DAMN IT!” the captain cursed out loud.

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It was the same every single time.

There was already a huge shortage of medical personnel for the emergency response department, but the higher-ups would always make a huge fuss and take the medical teams away whenever a lawmaker or a minister got sick. It was the same even when a larger emergency was going on. This in turn caused the death of patients and survivors that could have otherwise been saved if they were able to get medical help in time.

.

However, the worst part about this was the fact that all blame and responsibility fell on the captain’s shoulders and not the higher-ups who caused the mess if there was a public backlash.

‘Sigh, looks like I’m going to lose my job this time,’?the captain thought as he sighed at his impending fate.

The survivor who required immediate emergency treatment would most likely die without even being able to get medical attention, and the captain would most likely take all the blame and be held responsible for the survivor’s death.

The captain was about to resign to his fate when Han-Yeol suddenly asked, “Did you just say that there is a survivor?”

“Oh, Hunter-nim, you are here,” the captain said in surprise.

Han-Yeol approached the captain and asked, “Where is the patient?”

“O-Over there, but…” the captain muttered hesitantly with his words trailing off. He pointed in a certain direction.

Even before the captain could finish speaking, Han-Yeol was already running in the direction that he was pointing toward.

The paramedics were doing their best to administer first aid to the survivor, but the survivor was in a critical state and needed to be treated right away. However, there was no medical team to be found anywhere near the survivor.

“Damn it!” the paramedic cursed in frustration.

The survivor had to be immediately rushed to the hospital, but the injuries were too severe. He might not make it if he were carelessly moved without being administered any treatment at the site.

Huff… Huff… Huff… Huff…?

The patient was quickly attached to a respirator to keep his breathing stable, but his injuries were too severe for the paramedics to do anything about them.

Just as the paramedics were in despair and were losing hope in saving the survivor, Han-Yeol arrived at the scene and approached the patient. He said firmly, “Please move aside for a moment.”

“Ah, Hunter-nim… This patient is in a critical state, you can’t come here…” the paramedic carefully said.

The paramedic was not a doctor or a medical professional, but he knew that it would be crazy to touch someone in such a critical state. A single mistake could immediately result in the survivor’s death. If that were to happen, the paramedic himself would have to take the blame and be held responsible. It had always been this way.

The paramedic reached out his hand to prevent Han-Yeol from touching the patient.

Tak!

“?!”

Someone grabbed the paramedic’s hand and stopped him. He turned to see who was stopping him and saw that it was the foreign Hunter, who shook her head and gestured for him to not interfere with Han-Yeol.

“B-But…” the paramedic stuttered. He was completely stunned speechless by the beautiful obsidian-like eyes of the woman.

Han-Yeol placed his hand on top of the patient’s chest. Then, he cast his healing skill, “Restore.”

Woooong…!

“Heop!”?Han-Yeol exclaimed as a blue light emitted from his hand.

The warm blue light enveloped the patient, who was in a critical state.

“!!”

“W-Wow!”?the people at the rescue site exclaimed in awe when the blue light spread across the entire area.

Everyone dropped what they were doing to focus on the source of the light.

The body of the patient, who was struggling to breathe, began to change bit by bit. The twisted bones returned to their place and blood began to circulate again in the lower half of the body, which had turned blue due to the lack of blood. On top of that, the patient's lung, heart, stomach, and liver which had been crushed by the collapsed structure, started to recover too; they were just not visible to the naked eye.

“Cough! Cough!” the patient coughed, finally released from the death’s grip.

“H-He’s alive!” the paramedic shouted in surprise.

“I-It's a healing skill!” another person shouted.

“How is this possible? He can even use healing skills!”?another exclaimed in surprise.

People started to gather around the critically wounded patient who had miraculously recovered. It was not easy to witness such perfect healing skills in person, since such an ability was rare. The guilds also thoroughly managed and prevented such skills from being exposed to the public. However, everybody had just witnessed the miracle happen right before their very own eyes.

For reference, the three medical teams each had one Hunter with F Rank healing skills. The three Hunters were F Rank awakened, only capable of using one healing skill. Thus, it should have been impossible for them to officially work as a Hunter. However, thanks to the one healing skill they had, they could work as medical Hunters and make a fairly decent salary.

Surprisingly, there were quite a lot of F Rank Hunters who had a healing skill working under medical agencies. The F Rank recovery skill was not so effective and did not treat much of the injury, but the effectiveness of an E Rank healing skill was on par with the treatment received from doctors.

“T-Thank you…” the survivor muttered. He gasped out his breath before falling unconscious. He had to sleep to recover his exhausted stamina, as the Restore skill did not recover one’s exhausted stamina.

“Now this patient just needs to focus on recovering. Let’s keep moving! There are still more people in need of rescue!” Han-Yeol said to the crowd.

“Y-Yes, Hunter-nim!” the crowd yelled together.

It wasn’t just a single person’s life that Han-Yeol had saved, but rather, he had saved the morale of everyone at the rescue site itself.

What was the point of working hard to save someone if they just died on the spot due to the medical teams’ absence? It was just suffering with no reward. However, Han-Yeol’s Restore skill had prevented that suffering from happening.

Every person they rescued from the wreckage could now be saved by using Han-Yeol’s Restore skill, and even the ordinary civilians understood how great Han-Yeol’s healing skill was.

[…] Tayarana was at a loss for words when she saw the scene that had happened in front of her.

Tayarana’s assistant, who was right next to her, said in disbelief, [Tayarana-nim, that man…]

[Yeah, he is as strong as I am, and has an A Rank healing skill that can save someone even on the brink of death within five minutes.] Tayarana said.

[It is absurd to say he is as strong as you, Tayarana-nim. He is definitely not as strong as you,] her assistant insisted.

[Yeah, I know, but he will soon be as strong as I am,] Tayarana said.

[What?] her assistant muttered in disbelief.

Egypt was not a country that had a developed political or social landscape. With the money they earned from exporting mana stones, they heavily invested on their Hunters. That was why Egypt did not fall behind when it came to the research and development of their Hunters compared to the developed nations, and they were well aware that a Hunter had a limit to how strong they could grow.

That was the reason why Tayarana’s assistant could not understand what she was saying.

[It’s just a feeling that I have,] Tayarana said nonchalantly.

[Tayarana-nim…] her assistant muttered.

[Let’s wrap this up and head back,] Tayarana said.

[Yes, I understand,] her assistant replied. She quickly stood up and followed Tayarana.

***

Han-Yeol had helped out with the rescue efforts for twelve hours, using all of his abilities. Even then, the operation lasted for another three days and two nights after that.

The damage caused all over Seoul had stretched the manpower of the emergency response department too thin, but fortunately, there hadn’t been that much destruction in the city despite the earthquake’s strong magnitude. Of course, that did not excuse the government’s late response which had incurred both social and political rebuke.

‘As always, the world will return to how it was,’?Han-Yeol thought.

[Sigh… So, were you the Hunter who was recently all over the news?] Sung-Jin asked over the phone.

“Of course, did you think I deliberately set up an appointment with you and not show up?” Han-Yeol said.

[Tsk, I’ll let it slide just this once,] Sung-Jin said.

“Shut up,” Han-Yeol replied.

Han-Yeol had been so caught up in the rescue efforts that he had totally forgotten about his appointment with Sung-Jin. It had even slipped his mind to give Sung-Jin a call because of all the chaos that had happened around him.

Thankfully, they were good friends, so Han-Yeol apologized over the phone and Sung-Jin forgave him right away. Their conversation over the phone ended quickly.

Han-Yeol looked at the token of appreciation that was on the other side of his room. It had been given to him by the Ministry of Public Safety and Security for his help with the rescue efforts. However, he did not receive any monetary compensation.

Of course, Han-Yeol did not take that to heart, since he did not volunteer to help to receive any financial reward. Besides, he had accomplished everything he wanted to achieve by helping out with the rescue efforts.

‘But that?beautiful woman?really did?turn?out to be an Egyptian warrior,’?Han-Yeol thought.

Han-Yeol had a large TV in his living room as well as a wall-mounted TV in his room, and he saw a familiar face on TV.

[One of the Egyptian Hunters, Tayarana, has attended the South Korea-Egypt Hunter forum. Her beauty further brightened the forum’s atmosphere. The forum aimed to promote partnership on the research of mana stones between South Korea and Egypt, and another topic discussed at the forum was the exchange of Hunters so that they could share their knowledge and culture between the two countries.]

The representatives of the Hunters’ Association from both countries could be seen smiling brightly on TV. Looking at them, Han-Yeol thought, ‘Hmm, a cooperation between the Korean and Egyptian Hunter Association.’

Han-Yeol knew that there were quite a few cultural and economic exchanges with Egypt, but it was the first time that he had heard of such a relationship being formed between the Hunters’ Associations. He looked at the TV screen and thought, ‘It’s strange to see such a sudden development between the two Hunters’ Associations when they previously had no relationships with each other.’

The mana stones, which replaced fossil fuels as an energy source, could be found anywhere as long as there were monsters present. This was one of the reasons why the import and export of mana stones were not pursued by most countries. In short, the Hunters’ Association did not encroach on each other’s territory since it was possible for all of them to sustain themselves.

Most Hunter Associations did not interfere with other countries’ business nor did they want to be interfered with, except for the United States and China who both liked to interfere in other countries' business since before the appearance of the Dimensional Gates.

However, the Hunters’ Association of South Korea and Egypt were agreeing to sign into an alliance. They even agreed to swap A Rank Hunters according to the alliance agreement.

‘Politics is all about the secret?backroom?deals,’?Han-Yeol thought.

It was not mentioned in the news about why the South Korean and Egyptian Hunter Association had signed such a treaty. The news simply focused on the fact that the Egyptian Hunters had joined in the rescue efforts while visiting and the video of the rescue site where Han-Yeol had participated was played across the news channels.

Of course, the video was centered around Tayarana.

‘She is without a doubt gorgeous,’?Han-Yeol thought while looking at Tayarana on TV.

Han-Yeol was not attracted to Middle Eastern women. He did not feel anything whenever he looked at the women who popped up online under the keywords Middle Eastern beauty, Arab beauty, or Egyptian beauty, and he did not particularly find them to be attractive… However, Tayarana was an exception to that.

‘Tsk… There’s no way that someone like me can end up with her,’?Han-Yeol thought as he clicked his tongue.

Tayarana was introduced as the Egyptian president’s daughter on the news, and was revered by her people to the extent that she was called the living image of the goddess Isis.