Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 87: Tayarana, Princess of Egypt (4)

A party had been hosted the evening after the Korea-Egypt Cooperation Forum concluded, and the party had been attended by the top-ranking Hunter in Korea alongside a Master-Rank Hunter. He was known as the Hallasan Monster, but his real name was Kim Tae-San from Jeju Island.

Kim Tae-San had asked Tayarana out on a hunt together with his raid party without any romantic intentions or inclinations. He had believed that if her raid party and Tamra, which was Korea’s top raid party, joined forces, then they would be an unstoppable force.

Tae-San had been confident that the Egyptian Princess would immediately accept his offer. After all, a Hunter was instinctively inclined to surround themselves with the strong and they naturally preferred to work with powerful comrades. In the end, it was inevitable for Hunters to be instinctively attracted to those stronger than them.

Tae-San was not a rash or arrogant person, but he was well aware that he was the strongest in Korea. Everyone in Korea already knew about that fact too, so he did not bother to try and hide it.

However, the answer Tae-san had gotten from Tayarana was not what he had expected at all. In fact, Tayarana had refused his proposition right from the start.

[I refuse,] Tayarana said bluntly.

“Tayarana-nim said that she refuses your offer,” Mariam said.

“But why?!” Tae-San retorted while seemingly?shocked by the rejection.

Tae-San had struggled to understand. He had asked Tayarana to hunt with him since he was well aware that she had a noble status in Egypt and he had naturally thought that she would want the best Korean Hunter to accompany her. Why did she refuse his offer, then?

[Tayarana-nim, Tae-San Hunter-nim wishes to know the reason for your refusal,] Mariam conveyed.

[I just don’t want to,] Tayarana said nonchalantly.

“She said that she just does not want to,” Mariam said.

“W-What?!” Tae-San exclaimed in disbelief.

Tae-San had been furious from the exchange, the anger boiling inside of him had slowly turned into rage.

If Tayarana was treated like a noble princess in Egypt, then Tae-San was considered a living god among the Hunters in Korea. He was known for using his bare fists as his choice of weapon, and his fists were so powerful that he could send most Hunters flying with a single blow.

.

There was nobody in Korea in their right mind that could possibly reject his offer, but Tae-San had just been flatly rejected without a thought by the guest from Egypt. This exchange had caused cracks in his pride.

Tremble…?Tremble…

[I’ll excuse myself,] Tayarana said without a hint of emotion.

“I will excuse myself,” Mariam translated.

After Tayarana and Mariam left, the furious and humiliated Tae-San had been left all alone, shaking in anger and embarrassment.

[Yawn.]

Tayarana had let out a yawn as the party had been starting to bore her. Although it had been an ordinary yawn, it had been beautiful enough to mesmerize all of the men around her.

[Tayarana-nim, is it really fine to just refuse the offer of the Hunter called Kim Tae-San so easily? I heard he is the strongest Hunter in Korea,] Mariam asked while seemingly worried.

Mariam had interpreted every word without fail as it was her duty. However, she had concerns after Tayarana had rejected the offer too nonchalantly. Mariam had expected Tayarana to reject the offer since she knew her personality very well, but she had not expected her to reject Tae-San in such a blunt and straightforward manner.

Mariam had concerns, because this was not Egypt where Tayarana’s noble status could be used to shield her from any criticism or retaliation. The fact that the other party was the strongest Hunter in Korea had made her even more worried too.

‘Was it really necessary to antagonize the strongest Hunter in Korea…?’?Mariam anxiously thought. She had no need to bat an eyelid if this was Egypt, but she had concerns as they had been invited here as guests.

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[Hmm… It’s going to be fine,] Tayarana reassured Mariam.

[Yes, I understand,] Mariam replied.

It was clear that Tayarana did not care at all.

***

“Hunter-nim! The internet is in a complete uproar after the news of your collaboration with the goddess’ raid team broke out. The internet is demanding us to start broadcasting this instant!” Su-In frantically said.

The internet chat room was indeed going crazy right now.

Han-Yeol had exchanged contact information with Mariam instead of Tayarana since she was still not proficient in Korean. He had also discussed the copyright issues with the video that had been taken at the rescue site, to which she had easily given him the approval to use it. Only then did he immediately release the first promotional video that he had prepared in advance as a teaser.

That video alone had created a ton of interest in their joint hunt.

Han-Yeol had told Mariam about the Mulan film crew, and had even explained various reasons and justifications to allow them to film the hunt. This discussion had taken place two days, when the cooperation hunt with the Horus raid party had been set.

[Is that really a thing?] Mariam asked while seemingly surprised.

“Yes, it is,” Han-Yeol replied.

[How interesting… I’m interested in it, and it seems to have piqued Tayarana-nim’s interest as well. She has given her permission,] Mariam said.

“Ah,?t-thank you very much,” Han-Yeol stuttered in response.

After he had managed to somehow easily get their permission to broadcast the hunt live, Han-Yeol had informed the Mulan film crew so that they had the time to immediately create a publicity video with the footage from the rescue site.

Han-Yeol and the Mulan film crew had posted the video in hopes it would create some kind of buzz to garner attention to their hunt. The video was part of their noise marketing campaign; they already expected that not a lot of netizens would believe the claims they were making in the video. In short, they had posted it in hopes of stirring up a bit of publicity, but they did not expect the netizens to believe everything that was on that video.

At that moment…

Dudududu!

When the sound of propellers was heard from a distance, Han-Yeol looked up and saw two huge transport helicopters flying toward the association.

“N-No way, is that?!” Su-In yelled out.

“Well, it looks like it, right?” Han-Yeol said.

“I-It’s really true… The lie was actually true!” Su-In said excitedly.

“I kept telling you that I never lied!” Han-Yeol retorted in his defense.

“W-Wow,” Su-In said in awe.

Han-Yeol shook his head, no longer trying to convince the film crew. It was because the Mulan film crew was no longer paying any attention to him. Instead, their eyes were glued to the transport helicopters which were currently making their landing.

‘Now that I think about it, Tayarana is a goddess among women as well,’?Han-Yeol thought as he watched Tayarana get off the transport helicopter with her attendants’ guidance.

Tayarana was wearing the Horus armor that she had worn when they had first met, and not the traditional Egyptian attire Han-Yeol had seen her in five days ago.

Tayarana looked around for a while, searching for someone after getting off the helicopter. When she finally found Han-Yeol, she approached him before anyone else. She held out her hand and said, [Good to see you again.]

“Tayarana-nim said that it is good to see you again,” Mariam translated for Tayarana.

“Ah, it is also good to see you again,” Han-Yeol said as he carefully held Tayarana’s soft hands and shook them slowly.

‘So soft,’ Han-Yeol thought.

Tayarana’s hands were so soft that they did not seem to belong to a Hunter, which was an occupation that lived a rough life of hunting monsters.

Han-Yeol could not help but feel disappointed when it was time to let go of Tayarana’s hand. He enjoyed the soft sensation of her hand during that brief handshake.

Dudududu!

The second helicopter landed after the first helicopter, which was the one where Tayarana, Mariam, and the attendants had been on. The people who got off the second helicopter were Egyptian Porters, support crew, and armorers judging by the fact that they immediately started equipping themselves after landing.

Each and every piece of equipment they used were high-end equipment of extremely high cost.

“Wow! Perhaps it is because this is the princess’ party, but all of their equipment are excellent!” Han-Yeol exclaimed.

“Of course, the leader of this raid party is none other than Tayarana-nim, so even the slightest bit of imperfection will not be tolerated. Anything that will inconvenience her is a direct insult to Egypt, as she is Egypt and Egypt is her,” Mariam proudly explained.

“R-Right,” Han-Yeol muttered in response.

He thought, ‘Wow, they really do act like a cult over there…’

A third party, who had no clue who Tayarana was and was hearing their conversation for the first time, might think that the Egyptians were going overboard with how much they were worshiping her. However, anyone who knew of Tayarana’s status in Egypt would probably understand that all of their actions were within the bounds of reason.

As a matter of fact, Egypt had undergone numerous changes ever since the Dimensional Gates appeared, and there had been many developments in terms of the country’s GDP along with a plethora of other things that could measure their growth. The country developed so quickly that most would say it was incomparably richer than it had been before.

However, Egypt was a country that still experienced internal strife both politically and religiously. The terrorist group that had flown all the way to Korea to cause terror was a perfect example of them hating the current Egypt for adopting secularism when they had originally been a religious state in the past, and this was one of the main reasons why the country had faced multiple terrorist attacks in recent years.

In addition to that, there had been multiple politically charged attacks orchestrated by the opposition party, which were centered on religious doctrines. They continued to incite violence against the ruling party by using the growing wealth gap between the rich and the poor as their slogan.

The increasing propaganda incited by the opposition parties had plunged the country into a chaos that resulted in multiple protests and terrorist attacks. In fact, the country was seeing an increase in suicide bombings carried out by ordinary citizens in recent years because of these subterfuge methods.

Despite all of these obstacles, Egypt was still able to remain as the leader of Africa by establishing a society based on lineage. They also used something close to idolatry where Tayarana was at the core of it all. In other words, Tayarana was no different than the very pillar upholding modern Egypt.

With Tayarana being the pillar of the entire country, to possibly inconvenience her with the subpar equipment of her raid party members was truly an inexcusable thing that would offend the entire nation of Egypt.

“By the way, I still have not been informed what monster we are hunting today,” Han-Yeol said.

He had only been told to come to the heliport near the association at this time today, but he did not hear exactly where they were going to hunt.

“Oh? Did we not tell you?” Mariam asked in response.

“Yes,” Han-Yeol replied.

“Today’s hunt is to commemorate Han-Yeol Hunter-nim’s inauguration as a special member of the raid party, so we wanted to go to a hunting ground of your choice. There seems to have been some sort of miscommunication in the process, and I deeply apologize for that,” Mariam apologized before glaring at the person beside her.

[I-I apologize!] an Egyptian man bowed ninety degrees and apologized.

[Unbelievable, you dare call yourself a follower of Tayarana-nim when you can’t even take care of such a simple task?] Mariam said angrily.

[I-I have no excuses,] the Egyptian man said while trembling and looking absolutely terrified at Mariam’s infuriated gaze. He could not help but tremble in fear because he knew very well how Mariam could be when she was angry.

Before the atmosphere was about to hit a tipping point, Han-Yeol quickly intervened. “It is fine. As a matter of fact, there is a hunting ground that I have always wanted to go hunt at. I never attempted to hunt there alone as I am not strong enough. Why don’t we go there?”

“Ah, that is great. We wanted to arrange Han-Yeol Hunter-nim’s first hunt to your preference as much as possible, and it is indeed delightful news that you already have a hunting ground in mind. I believe that our thoughts and yours are aligning from the start,” Mariam said while seemingly relieved. She nodded with a smile.

The Egyptian man let out a sigh of relief after seeing Mariam’s reaction, but…

[Your punishment will be decided later,] Mariam said as she glared at the man.

[Y-Yes I understand,] the Egyptian man said while seemingly dejected at the thought of his suffering only getting started.

“Then, which hunting ground does Han-Yeol Hunter-nim have in mind?” Mariam asked.

“It is a hunting ground called Paradise Field within Bundang,” Han-Yeol replied with the name of the hunting ground he had been aiming for quite a while now, but had never had the opportunity to visit as a solo Hunter.

“Paradise Field?” Mariam repeated the name of the hunting ground.

The Paradise Field within Bundang was one of the most important hunting grounds Han-Yeol was ultimately aiming for.

‘I am certain the monster there possesses Angel Shards,”?Han-Yeol thought.

Aside from being correct about that fact, Han-Yeol was trying to complete the task Astaroth had given him. It was the task to collect Angel Shards, which he had received a long time ago when she had bestowed him with Kajikar’s seal.

Han-Yeol was planning to complete that exact task through this opportunity.

Upon receiving the quest from Astaroth, Han-Yeol had immediately gone to search for information on which monsters dropped the Angel Shards. Unfortunately, to his dismay, he had failed to find a single monster with any relation to an item or even anything that was remotely associated with the Angel Shards.

However, he had relentlessly continued searching for information, and he had one day stumbled upon a piece of information that one of the Dimensional Gates that opened within Bundang, called Paradise Field, had occurred at one of the largest cathedrals in South Korea called St. John’s Cathedral.

‘Well, I’m sure there will be some correlation between the two of them. I have to go and hunt there and see for myself,’?Han-Yeol thought.

“The Paradise Field inside Bundang… Understood, please give me a few minutes to find out more about the place, and then we can mobilize with our helicopters right away,” Mariam said.

“But we won’t be able to collect and retrieve the monster corpses if we go by the helicopters, right?” Han-Yeol asked while tilting his head.

“Oh, I have already sent an official request to the Hunters’ Association, so their trucks will be ready at the hunting ground by the time we arrive there,” Mariam reassured him.

“Oh…” Han-Yeol muttered.

‘The rich really do spend money?on a?different scale,’?he thought to himself. He decided that he could also use this collaborative hunt with the Horus raid party to learn how to spend money properly like an influential person.

‘This is going to be an interesting hunt,’?Han-Yeol thought excitedly.

He might have ended up joining the Horus raid party completely unexpectedly, but he had a good feeling about the things that were to come for some reason. And knowing himself, he knew that his gut feeling was correct most of the time.

***

[Is this?really a place called ‘Paradise Field’?] Tayarana asked Mariam, her most trusted deputy.

[Yes, it is correct. I checked with Han-Yeol Hunter-nim and also checked with the public official who works for the Korean Hunters’ Association. This place is indeed called the Paradise Field located within Bundang,] Mariam replied.

The reason that Tayarana had asked Mariam one more time just to clarify was that...

Kyaaahk!

Euhehehe!

Kieeeeek!

She distinctly remembered being told by her deputy that they were headed to a hunting ground called ‘Paradise Field’ located within Bundang. However, the scenery that appeared in front of her when she arrived at the so-called ‘Paradise Field’ did not look anything remotely resembling a paradise, but rather, the entire surroundings looked much closer to hell on earth.