Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 386 – Age of Confusion (2)

[Lee Han-Yeol is our country’s only hope!]

[That’s right! He won against the monster that destroyed the entirety of Japan too!]

[South Korea will be safe as long as we have Lee Han-Yeol Hunter-nim!]

[What are the government and association doing right now?!]

[They should pressure Lee Han-Yeol to guarantee our safety right now!]

[Yes, he should guarantee our safety!]

They said heroes were born during difficult times, and that proved true as the entire nation clamored for Han-Yeol.

The people were afraid that Han-Yeol might abandon them when a monster like Craspio appeared in South Korea. They knew very well, from witnessing Japan burn to the ground, that the same fate could befall South Korea if no one stepped up to defeat a monster of the same caliber.

Japan, being susceptible to numerous earthquakes and other natural disasters, had already purchased vast areas of land in both Australia and Canada as a contingency plan to evacuate the entire country. Thanks to this foresight, they were able to start anew by relocating their entire nation to Australia and Canada.

However, the same could not be said for South Korea. They neither possessed lands overseas nor had any evacuation plan in place. Well, technically, they did have some land in Chile, but it was deemed a useless wasteland.

South Koreans feared they would fare worse than the Japanese in the event of a disaster, potentially ending up aimlessly wandering without a place to call home.

Thus, fear and anxiety among the general populace grew day by day, with all eyes now focused on Han-Yeol alone.

***

In the basement of the Hunters’ Association building.

Knock... Knock... Knock...

“...”

The Hunters’ Association building officially did not have a basement floor, and even the official website of the Hunters’ Association showed that the building started from the first floor up. However, it was not unusual for an organization like the Hunters’ Association, which raked in tons of money every single second and was almost as powerful as the government itself, to hack a few secret rooms in their building.

"Heavy" was the best word to describe the atmosphere within the meeting room located in the secretive basement floor of the association’s building.

The man seated at the head of the meeting table looked quite disturbed as he asked the man sitting beside him, “Have we received a response yet?”

“No, we are yet to receive a response... and neither have we received any signal from them,” the man replied.

The man couldn't help but inwardly cuss, ‘Damn it! Why are you asking that of me?!’

It was the other side that was not calling, so what was he supposed to do about it? Unfortunately, an office worker like him did not have the liberty to express how he felt. He knew very well how things were going to end for him if he spoke up, so he decided to keep his mouth shut.

“Damn it... What is our organization doing right now?”

The man seated at the head of the table was none other than the current chairman of the Hunters’ Association, Woo Jin-Cheon.

Tap... Tap... Tap... Tap... Tap...

He anxiously tapped his finger on the table. This was a habit he displayed whenever he was in a bad mood.

Beep! Beep!

“Hmm?”

“Oh! We have finally received a signal, chairman-nim!”

“Alright! Let’s go, baby!”

Chairman Woo Jin-Cheon was the head of the most powerful organization in the country, which indirectly meant he was one of the most influential figures in the country too. However, the way he acted like a kid whenever he was happy was truly unbefitting of someone of such status.

A wise leader would surround themselves with honest people who would criticize them whenever they made a mistake, but Woo Jin-Cheon was so stubborn and arrogant that he hated being corrected by others. Thus, most of the people around him were scared to correct him, resulting in him being surrounded by yes-men.

“Ahem... Ahem...”

His subordinates in the meeting room awkwardly cleared their throats at his childish antics, attempting to signal for him to calm down, but it was to no avail. Who would have known the South Korean Hunters’ Association was controlled by a nepotism beneficiary?

Bzzt!

Something amazing happened the moment they managed to connect to the signal. A flash suddenly illuminated the dark, narrow meeting room, transforming it into a spacious, brightly lit round meeting room, as if they were teleported into a completely different place.

“Wow! This hologram technology never fails to impress me, no matter how many times I see it. As expected of Yulia, it was a good idea to recruit that bodiless woman with only a brain remaining! Haha!”

As he said, they were currently in the hologram meeting room of the Freemasons, created by Yulia. This was a stark change from the classic and antique way the Freemasons conducted their meetings, using video conference calls. However, that changed after Yulia joined, as she possessed the ability to create a virtual space and easily gather all Freemason members spread worldwide.

[All of you are finally here.]

[...]

The meeting room fell silent. Woo Jin-Cheon might have acted childish and caused quite a ruckus, but the rest of the Freemason members maintained their silence.

The Freemasons were an organization shrouded in mystery, so it was only obvious their members acted with dignity and class. Someone as undignified and classless as Woo Jin-Cheon would not have been able to join the Freemasons if not for his grandfather, Woo Han-Jong.

The Freemasons needed the extreme power Woo Han-Jong wielded as the First Hunter. Woo Han-Jong was powerful enough that the secretive Freemasons were willing to accept someone like Woo Jin-Cheon just to appease him.

[I believe all of you are aware of the mysterious creature attacking the Hunters. Ah, it seems that only South Korea was unable to suppress their media from reporting on the matter, and ended up causing quite a commotion over there.]

Every word spoken in this meeting room was automatically translated into different languages.

“Ahem... Ahem...” Chairman Woo Jin-Cheon cleared his throat out of embarrassment.

The one speaking right now was the founder of the Freemasons, known only as 'Mister Freemason.' Nothing was known about Mister Freemason’s identity. Where was this person from? Was this person male or female? How old was this person? Not a single thing was known about Mister Freemason, aside from the fact that the person sitting in front of a white background wore a mask with the letter 'P' engraved on it.

[As you are aware, we have now transitioned into a second dimension, and numerous Hunters have had their second awakening and undergone huge changes. Finally, the age of evolution has dawned on us, and I believe that this new age will be the turning point for us, the Freemasons, and this will be started with a new challenge.]

The silence was broken as the meeting room got rowdy.

“A new challenge?”

“What kind of challenge is it?”

The Freemasons were a secret organization hidden from the public’s eye, so what kind of challenge could they possibly attempt?

[Silence.]

The meeting room fell silent almost instantaneously the moment Mister Freemason told them to be quiet. The Freemasons were indeed a powerful organization, evident from the influential people attending this meeting right now. However, the organization was slightly lacking in terms of physical strength.

One of the biggest shortcomings of the Freemasons was their failure to recruit Master Rank Hunters, and the only Master Rank Hunters in the organization were the First Hunter, Woo Han-Jing, and Mister Freemason. The only silver lining they had was probably the fact that they had plenty of S Rank and A Rank Hunters, but that was about it.

[Dr. Santinora.]

Ziiing!

“Ugh...”

“Hmm...”

[Woohee! It is finally my turn?]

A hologram of a man was projected at Mister Freemason’s call. The man with long white hair messily tied up by a hairband looked to be in his forties and was of Latin American descent, and something about him made him look like an absolute pervert.

[Woohee! Ah, I should probably introduce myself first! My name is Dr. Santinora from Mexico, and I have awakened with abilities related to bioengineering! I should probably also mention I ran three drug cartels with my abilities!]

Dr. Santinora looked a bit sleazy, but he was actually quite normal. No, most people would probably agree he was handsome upon closer look. However, the biggest mistake someone could make was to trust him based on his looks. Dr. Santinora was someone who conducted live human experiments, and most of his test subjects were women who once made the fatal mistake of falling for his looks.

A lot of people went missing in Mexico every year, but that was never an issue over there. The reason was that Mexico had one of the highest birth rates in the world at 4.25 babies per capita, and the government was in cahoots with the cartels, which were mostly responsible for these disappearances.

In the first place, the country was already infamous for kidnappings and disappearances, so nobody really cared if a few people went missing or not. This was the reason Dr. Santinora could not bring himself to leave Mexico and built three major drug cartels to help fund and supply his research with test subjects.

[Enough, Dr. Santinora. Show us the reason why I have called you today.]

[Woohee! Alright!]

Clap! Clap!

Dr. Santinora clapped twice, and a large door located in the meeting room opened.

Whiiiing!

This place might be created through Yulia’s hologram ability, but this place actually existed in real life. As a matter of fact, this was one of the hidden bases of the Freemasons, and it was also the place where Dr. Santinora’s creations were safely stored.

The door opened, and a group of creatures walked in.

Thud...! Thud...! Thud...!

“T-That is...!”

The meeting room grew rowdy once again, but this time, it was much rowdier than a while ago. It was possible to judge from their reactions alone just how shocking the creatures that emerged from the door were.

“M-Mister Freemason...! W-What in the world is going on here?!” Chairman Woo Jin-Cheon asked while trying his best to stop his voice from quavering.

However, Mister Freemason was not affected by Chairman Woo Jin-Cheon’s reaction. Instead, Mister Freemason nonchalantly asked in response.

[Why? Is there a problem?]

Bam!

“These are our Purple Rose raid party members who got ambushed last time!” Chairman Woo Jin-Cheon slammed his fist on the table and shouted in anger.

He might act aloof and childish at times, but he knew his boundaries in the Freemason. However, what he saw this time was so shocking that even he ended up slamming his fist on the table out of anger. What was going to happen if the people found out about this? It was not going to end with his life alone, and he was certain the aftermath was going to be extremely difficult to control.

Chairman Woo Jin-Cheon was not particularly talented or anything, but his ability to slip out of tricky situations was probably second to none. However, even he was not confident of getting himself out of this mess if this barbaric act came to light.

‘Master Hee-Yun is going to kill me if this gets discovered...’

The fact that he was a member of an organization that abducted and ran experiments on Hunters was more than enough reason to be hunted down by Hunters. Such barbaric acts were a direct challenge to the Hunters and could be considered as treason.

On top of that, the fact that he was the chairman of the Hunters’ Association only made it worse! That was the reason Chairman Woo Jin-Cheon, who did not act up during the meeting, suddenly slammed his fist on the table and raised his voice.

[Pathetic.]

“W-What?!”

Chairman Woo Jin-Cheon’s outburst was silenced by a single word, and he was immediately reminded of what kind of problem he just caused.

[Who told you to speak without my permission?]

“Keuk...!”

Chairman Woo Jin-Cheon might be Woo Han-Jong’s grandson, but that did not mean he was the First Hunter, Woo Han-Jong. Woo Jin-Cheon was an A Rank Hunter at best, and he was just one of the many A Rank Hunters within the Freemason. It did not matter that he was the chairman of South Korea’s Hunters’ Association, as South Korea was not very influential on the international stage, which was another reason why his status within the Freemason was so low, to begin with.

In the end, the A Rank Hunter, Woo Jin-Cheon, ended up shrieking in horror them oment Mister Freemason unleashed his aura.

“Kuheok!”

Cough! Cough! Cough!

“C-Chairman-nim!”

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