Solo Laveling
Chapter 17's
Solo Leveling – Chapter 17
Just as Jin-Ah shook her head, Jin-Woo suddenly pushed the umbrella forward.
"Why umbrella?"
Jin-Ah accepts it and looks up at the sky. Since it was still dawn, the sky remained dark, but it seemed more and less clear and cloudless.
"But it doesn't seem like it's going to rain?"
"Take it."
"But, it's heavy, you know?"
“Bring it with you. In addition, the umbrella type folds so that it does not even weigh anything. Stop exaggerating, huh? ”
Slam.
Jin-Woo then closes the door.
“Che…. Act like him. ”
Jin-Ah lightly kicked the door a few times to express her dissatisfaction, folded the umbrella and put it in an empty room in her school bag, and turned to leave.
'Wait a minute….'
Her steps came to a sudden halt after she remembered the difference in eye level between her and her brother. Something's a little weird.
His eyes had already risen higher than before.
"Did you continue to grow taller even in your twenties?"
Eii, there's no way that's true ….
Jin-Ah shook her head again and hurriedly walked towards her school.
*
Clik.
Jin-Woo locks the door and calls out his Inventory.
"Storage."
Storage, 'inven', Inventory.
He discovered it through various experiments and learned that the word used does not matter as long as the meaning is the same.
It was the same story when accessing the mailbox.
As long as the spoken word means 'open', the desired effect occurs without fail. (TL: The author wrote 'open' three times in Korean and English in this sentence. So I had to change it a little bit.)
Jin-Woo then pushes the umbrella he just got from a random box inside the ‘digital’ storage in front of his eyes. (TL: This is a direct translation from raw. I didn't make a mistake. This is what is actually said ..).
"It's not good today anymore, yeah."
Four days had passed since he cleaned that instant basement.
He always remained hopeful whenever he had to open a random box, praying for another dungeon lock to appear, but unfortunately, he had not been lucky so far. It must be a very rare item if it was hard to come by.
"Yes, that's it, but now …."
Jin-Woo enters his room and sits on the edge of his bed. There's a problem he's solved right away.
"Statistics."
(Stats)
Power: 48
Stamina: 27
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Agility: 27
Intelligence: 27
Perception: 27
(Points available for distribution: 12)
He had kept the Stat points obtained from the quest for the past four days. He made sure to complete daily quests every day. Of course, he also did not forget to always check the rewards as well.
However, he had not distributed the points until now.
The problem is ….
"… It's hard."
Indeed, he found it rather difficult to make a decision.
Stat 'Strength'.
That's an amazing stat, that's for sure. He never regretted it, investing all his points into this one when he started this thing.
Agility.
This is also a very good stat as well. Against a weak enemy, it only helped a little, but as his opponent's level rose in the future, there was no doubt he would increasingly rely on this Stat.
Yes, ‘speed’ is a relative thing.
And then, Stamina and Perception.
It would be great if the stamina was high, obviously. And this perception turned out to be very beneficial as well.
Finally, 'Intelligence'.
…… This is a troubled child.
He has not been able to know the use of this stat.
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His level had improved quite a lot, but he did not feel any smarter than before. His memory did not seem to improve, nor did his ability to count quickly.
"I thought, it should be associated with magic …."
This stat might be something he doesn't really need for now. That leaves Strength, Stamina, Agility and Perception.
"…. In fact, it's really hard."
Although he now had one fewer Stat to choose from, he was still in a dilemma here.
He didn't feel too confident at all.
At least he understood that the synergy between 'Strength' and 'Enterprity' was excellent. Even if he could deal great damage, it would be meaningless if he could not hit his target. On the other hand, even if he could hit accurately the entire time, as long as he could not deal enough damage, it would be a waste of time as well.
In that case, it could be said that Strength and Agility formed a 'set'.
"Since my Strength Stat is so high, I must increase Agility to match it."
If he decided to increase his Agility Stat, then he would have to delay increasing his Stamina. Well, the synergy between Agility and Stamina is not so good, after all.
The problem was, when Agility was raised, the chances of being hit by an enemy attack would be reduced. But on the other hand, Stamina is a Stat that only displays its true value when the opponent actually damages it.
"Of course, I at least need a minimum of Stamina …."
But, increasing Agility and Stamina at the same time was a rather inefficient method, at least from his point of view.
After a long deliberation, he decided on the order of priority.
The first is Agility. The second is perception. Finally, Stamina.
His strength was high enough that he was delaying for now. And when he was planning to increase his Agility, Perception took priority over Stamina.
After deciding so, Jin-Woo spends 2 points for Strength.
Tti-rings.
(Stats)
Strength: 50
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Stamina: 27
Agility: 27
Intelligence: 27
Perception: 27
(Points available for distribution: 10)
Well, he wanted to raise Strength to a round and even 50 for now. That's normal human behavior, isn't it?
Then, he spent 8 points for Agility.
(Stats)
Strength: 50
Stamina: 27
Intelligence: 27
Perception: 27
(Points available for distribution: 2)
The reason for that was not too special either.
He just wanted the last number to be '5'.
"It is much preferable to see a number ending with an increase of 5 …."
Power 50, and Agility 35.
Seeing them end up in multiples of 5, he suddenly felt somewhat pleased with himself for no reason whatsoever.
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‘And for last 2 points ...’
Jin-Woo invests them in his next Perception.
With this, the point distribution had ended.
(Stats)
Strength: 50
Stamina: 27
Intelligence: 27
Perception: 29
(Points available for distribution: 0)
The only important point was the fact that he could not bring Perception up to 30.
"Well, I don't have any more points, so it can't help, I guess."
Besides, everything's fine. He thought it was fine to increase his Stamina and Agility by leveling up.
"So, I guess so."
No matter who you are, you will find it difficult to feel 100% satisfied with everything. Since he had been thinking about his options for a long time, he was more or less happy with them like this.
That was when he could hear the phone ringing from the living room.
Riiing, riii ….
"Did the Association call me?"
In the past, he didn't want to participate in the raids so he did his best to ignore the calls until the last possible moment, but now, he did, he was preparing to leave and test his increased abilities against various monsters.
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Jin-Woo quickly snatches the phone's handle.
"This is Hunter Seong Jin-Woo."
– "Aigoo, you finally picked up the phone."
Too bad, it wasn't a call from the Association.
******* sadness comes out of his mouth.
– "Learner Jin-Woo, why is it so difficult to contact you lately?"
The voice coming from the speaker sounded familiar.
It had been four years since she graduated from high school and therefore stopped being a 'student', ' she said', but the building owner has always stuck a prefix in front of Jin-Woo's name since receiving both Seong brothers when they were young children.
"I'm really sorry about that. I was hospitalized for an incident a few days ago. ”
– “Ck, tk, so that's the case. I should have known. Well, there it is and, student Jin-Woo …. The rent for this month has not yet entered, so ... what should I do? If it is a bit too difficult for you, should I delay a month or two? "
"Oh no. Its alright. I'll send you the money later. "
– "Good. But, don't push yourself, you hear? Trying to take care of your mother and your little sister, you had a lot of trouble there. Money is important, but don't forget to take care of your body. "
"thank you. I won't forget that. "
The call ends there.
Jin-Woo takes out a bank balance book from one of the drawers. The amount left in the account is only about ₩ 800,000. (TL: More than $ 700.)
"Muu …."
Moans out of his mouth.
After paying rent of ₩ 500,000, he has 300,000 left for living expenses that month.
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And the rent can be that low just because the apartment building is located in a remote suburb, and is also old and decrepit, plus the building owner is considering Jin-Woo's problems and hasn't added to the numbers for the past few years.
There is no way anyone can find an apartment for rent for 500 thousand per month at this time.
And trying to survive at 300 thousand for an entire month was even more difficult.
"I'll have to find the money first."
Jin-Woo decides to take care of urgent matters first.
He was no longer the same man from a few days ago who could not even kill a single E-rank monster and shiver in fear.
***
How do hunters make money?
The best way is to kill monsters.
S or A rank hunters can get sponsorships, shoot commercials, appear on TV shows and the like to raise a lot of money, as much as chaebols make, but their numbers are very few. (TL: Chaebols = big company owner basically)
Indeed, the number is too little.
Excluding the ones who were too few at the top, the majority of Hunters had to go to the dungeon to make money.
The higher the rank …
The greater the experience …
Income will be determined by the ability of each individual.
For someone like Jin-Woo, who was ranked E, worked only for the Association, and had no experience in a basement ranked higher than C, either, such a condition is a very difficult condition to overcome.
Jin-Woo's expression shrinks into something unsightly.
‘Disregarding the requirements, for now, if I could enter the assault team, now it would be amazing …. '
He saw a job post on Hunter's website bulletin board and called a few numbers, but they all turned out to be a waste of time. No one wants to work with an E-ranked Hunter.
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Hunters who seek outside help through job openings are almost always freelancers, which means that they are responsible for keeping their own necks, so understandably, they are, they pay close attention when forming a raid team or letting someone in.
These people did not have enough ability to enter a large Guild, but their ranks were too high to work for the Association.
They were all stuck between a rock and a difficult place, but could not go anywhere.
"Even then, these Hunters still earn more than ₩ 10,000,000 a month, as far as I know." (TL: About $ 8830)
It was a case of 'High Risk, High Reward'.
Since they were risking their lives, the profit they obtained was just as great at the end of the day. It is not in vain that Hunters are the target of jealousy from the general public.
From Jin-Woo's perspective, he can only be impatient.
"Should I take a rank-shifting test and immediately improve my ranking?"
Finally, Jin-Woo shakes his head.
He knew it was a stupid thing to do, no matter how hard he thought about it.
An E rank Hunter suddenly became a high ranked one!
Whether it's A or B, or maybe even C, it doesn't matter.
The Resurrection will always be a hot topic of conversation.
The mob disliked nothing but good gossip, and the Hunters happened to be a good subject to chew on.
The old adage says that, if there were five mouths, there would be ten eyes. That is, the more people talk about you, the more eyes will be focused on you. His stats would continue to increase in the future, so it was only a matter of time before his 'special' constitution was discovered by the others.
"A Hunter who can raise his abilities higher?"
"He's getting stronger as time goes on?"
"Who are these hunters?"
"How could he do such a thing?"
"What do we have to do to be like him?"
Without a doubt, many people would express their interest. After all, there was no Hunter like him before. And among those who expressed interest, there would be people who tried to use it, or express their hostile intentions towards it as well.
"If only one of them has extraordinary powers, then …."
Just imagining it makes him creep.
He was too weak as he was now. Until he has enough power to protect himself, he does not want the world to know of his existence. Means, taking a test to reassign her ranking is out of the question.
"But, I still need to make money here …."
However, that doesn't mean he can go out and get a part-time job as well. He did not know when the Association would call him for a raid.
By raiding the dungeon, he was able to gain money and experience, so how could he blow up that important opportunity just to scoop up a few dollars by working at the local store?
While he was seriously considering what he needed to do, he noticed something on the bulletin board that caught his attention.
– Emergency! Looking for a Hunter, regardless of rank! Need to come soon!
Jin-Woo's eyes are wide open. This post has appeared literally a second ago.
When he hurriedly checked the contents of the post, it was also not too far from his home.
Jin-Woo quickly picks up the phone. The other party must have been in a hurry as well since he answered the call even before the first ringtone.
– "Hello?"
Jin-Woo states his reason for calling as soon as possible and calmly waits for his answer.
– "Oh, you rank E?"
The response from the other party was better than expected.
– "It's okay. We just need someone to show up and fill in the number of employees, that's all. However, it is a Gate that is C rank so it is difficult for you to hunt there. So, we will just spill the profits among ourselves and we only give you ₩ 2,000,000 cash. How about that? Can you come soon? ”
₩ 2,000,000 for a day's work! (TL: About $ 1765)
That's a lot of money to just be there to make the numbers.
This rather tempting offer.
It was regrettable that he could not share the spoils of the dungeon, but he might end up losing 2 million just by trying to be too greedy.
‘For now, let's turn off the emergency fire first.’
Such an opportunity will not appear every day.
2 million is enough for him and his brother's monthly living expenses.
Jin-Woo says yes to the offer.
"I'll be there in less than 15 minutes."
And