A Hunter on Borrowed Time Keeps Surviving - Chapter 45

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 45.
Si-ul stepped out of the shower and swept his wet hair back from his forehead.
Wrapped in a bathrobe, he pressed a freshly opened can of beer against his cheek, letting the chill soothe his skin.
He crossed the spacious living room and approached the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Beyond the glass, the Han River’s nightscape unfurled in splendid clarity.
After gazing quietly at the view for a moment, Si-ul let himself collapse onto the sofa.
Sink.
His body sank deeply into the cushions.
The sensation of the armrest cradling his back felt worlds apart from any furniture he’d ever used before.
In that position, Si-ul took a long sip of beer.
“Ah!”
An involuntary exclamation escaped him.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and tilted his head up to study the high ceiling.
A chandelier hung from the center of the ceiling, casting soft light across the living room in gentle pools.
‘I’ve actually made it….’
It felt like an entirely different world.
It wasn’t that he’d sunk into grand reflection, but suddenly it hit him—really hit him.
A man who’d been scraping by in a tiny apartment, clutching instant ramen lids between shifts, now sat in the living room of an ultra-luxury high-rise.
The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed—and the better it felt.
“Woof woof!”
Si-ul wasn’t the only one enjoying himself.
Zero was rolling across the living room floor in delight.
The Gwi Jaam Do was clutched firmly in his embrace.
Ever since Si-ul had returned from the shop, Zero clung to the sword like a cherished stuffed animal, seizing every opportunity to hold it.
“You really like that thing that much?”
Si-ul asked with an amused, bewildered laugh.
“Woof!”
Zero barked brightly, then pressed his cheek against the Gwi Jaam Do, hugging it tighter.
He looked exactly like a puppy who’d just gotten a new toy.
‘Is it because Demon Realm mana is flowing through it? He really loves it.’
Si-ul wondered if this was what it felt like for an animal to catch the scent of home.
He took another sip of beer and raised a cautionary hand.
“Don’t go too rough with it, okay? Do you know how much that cost?”
The words he’d just spoken clawed at his own chest.
…….
His expression darkened.
For a moment, absurd thoughts flickered through his mind—should he stick a tissue in the can and ration himself to one sip a day?
‘Forget it. Once I become a Special Hunter, I’ll earn plenty.’
Denial seemed like the only answer.
He chose not to think about the credit card he’d already maxed out.
Si-ul turned his gaze back through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
The lights of the Han River were still beautiful.
But they didn’t shine with the same uncomplicated sweetness as before.
Because another set of numbers overlaid the view.
【Time Remaining: 109 days, 14 hours, 39 minutes】
‘Can I pass the exam…?’
The Special Hunter exam, he’d been told, was held once each quarter.
Even if he failed, he could attempt it four times a year with proper preparation.
But for Si-ul, that wasn’t an option.
‘If I don’t pass this time, I have to give up.’
For someone living on borrowed time, there was only one shot—no second chances.
This was one of his last desperate struggles.
That’s why his resolve burned all the brighter.
‘I’m passing on the first attempt, no matter what.’
Crunch.
The empty can crumpled in his grip.
The sweet evening had come to an end.
* * *
“This is the Training Facility provided for Special Hunters. We’ve rented out the entire space for the day, so feel free to use it however you need.”
Si-ul followed Kang Ho-chul into the Training Facility and surveyed the interior.
The Special Hunter Training Facility was far more massive than Si-ul had imagined.
The ceiling soared impossibly high, and the space stretched empty and vast.
The walls on all sides appeared to be made of some special material—something between metal and stone.
It was cold and smooth to the eye, with a texture that seemed to deflect bullets without effort.
The floor was no different.
This was no ordinary training hall floor.
Intricate lines were etched across it, as if designed to withstand combat, experimentation, explosions, and impact alike.
It looked less like a place for people to train than a facility for validating and containing dangerous abilities.
‘What kind of training do these Special Hunters do that requires a place like this…?’
He’d known they were monsters among Hunters, but the realization struck him now with fresh force—they must be far more terrifying than he’d given them credit for.
“I’m not sure what sort of experiment you have in mind, but you’ll be able to conduct it freely here,” Kang Ho-chul said from the center of the training facility.
He gestured around them as he spoke.
“High-grade barrier formations are woven into the walls of this facility. You could launch missiles and the impact wouldn’t breach the exterior. Nothing escapes from inside—no noise, no blast radius, nothing.”
Si-ul felt a wave of relief wash over him.
He’d been worried about the sheer power of the Gwi Jaam Do’s Activation Mode, but in a place like this, he could let loose without restraint.
Thoom!
The moment Kang Ho-chul pressed the remote control button, a section of the training facility wall slid open.
A robot that resembled a golem stepped out from within.
It stood a head taller than Si-ul, its entire frame encased in dull gray armor plating.
Blue light shimmered faintly around each joint—Mana that Si-ul could feel resonating through his very senses.
“It’s a robot manufactured for Special Hunter training,” Kang Ho-chul explained. “By rank, it exceeds A-Rank level.”
Si-ul studied it carefully, his gaze sharp and watchful.
“I thought you might need an opponent to test against.”
“You really didn’t have to go this far… but I’m grateful.”
The words came out stilted, yet Si-ul meant them sincerely.
To truly test the Gwi Jaam Do’s performance, he needed a real, combat-ready target—exactly what Kang Ho-chul had provided.
Si-ul found himself genuinely moved by the man’s thoughtfulness.
“I’ll step outside then. Contact me when you’re finished.”
Kang Ho-chul was remarkably composed, asking no questions at all.
He could have easily inquired about the nature of the training, or why the weapon required a facility of this caliber, but he didn’t.
Instead, he’d simply provided the necessary environment and opponent, then departed the training facility with casual efficiency.
Click.
The door closed behind him, leaving Si-ul and the robot alone in the vast space.
‘This is nice.’
Si-ul exhaled, a soft breath escaping his lips.
Then he reached into his Inventory and withdrew the Gwi Jaam Do.
A silver handle the size of a ballpoint pen. A transparent blade.
In its dormant state, the Gwi Jaam Do looked almost pathetically unremarkable.
‘Please be worth eight billion won,’ he thought, offering a silent prayer.
He studied the robot waiting before him, examining the space above its head.
“…Nothing.”
No Danger Rank appeared.
“Hmm.”
Si-ul paused, lost in thought.
All the enemies he’d faced thus far.
Golems, slimes, minotaurs, wyvern goblins, Balrogs, Morgas.
Every single one of them—every creature where he’d seen a Danger Rank displayed—had been a monster.
By contrast, he’d never once seen a Danger Rank above a human opponent.
And now, before this training robot, he saw none either.
‘Does it only show for monsters?’
If so, the same applied to quests.
His growth could only advance by facing monsters in combat.
That was precisely why he had to venture into SS-Rank dungeons and beyond.
Si-ul organized his thoughts and turned his attention back to the robot facing him.
It stood ready in combat stance, waiting for him to make the first move.
‘Let’s start light—warm up first.’
Gripping the Gwi Jaam Do firmly, Si-ul shifted his weight and began to move.
Whoosh!
He kicked off the ground and launched forward like an arrow loosed from a bow.
The robot reacted instantly.
Despite its bulky frame, the robot moved with surprising speed.
A thick arm swung wide, cutting off Si-ul’s angle of approach.
Si-ul dropped low and drove underneath.
Tick!
The short blade of the Gwi Jaam Do grazed the robot’s flank.
But the robot instantly gathered Mana to its side, mounting a defense.
‘It can use Mana Application too?’
Mana Application in combat—a technique only veteran hunters could master.
The robot had already reached that level.
Crack!
The robot twisted and launched a counterattack.
A fist heavy as an iron mace flew toward Si-ul’s head.
Si-ul jerked his head aside, barely evading, and his damp bangs flew apart in the wind of the passing blow.
‘That would’ve sent me down for the count.’
Si-ul withdrew and closed distance again.
The short blade put him at a range disadvantage.
But his wrist rotation was fast, the arc tight.
The time it took to thrust, withdraw, and drive in again was remarkably short.
Si-ul exchanged a few more rounds of close combat, letting the Gwi Jaam Do’s feel settle into his hands.
‘Better than I expected.’
Its small size barely impeded his movements—if anything, it helped.
And there was a function he’d overlooked in its Deactivation Mode state.
Thud!
The Gwi Jaam Do buried itself deep in the robot’s flank.
The robot’s frame shuddered violently.
“……?”
Si-ul stepped back several paces, replaying the exchange in his mind.
‘A creature capable of Mana Application—why did it go down so easily to that strike?’
It wasn’t even a particularly special attack.
The only difference was striking from a blind spot.
But even with Presence Detection, the robot should have sensed that—yet it reacted as if it hadn’t detected anything at all.
‘Wait, could it be…?’
Si-ul’s eyes widened with belated realization.
‘Does Presence Detection fail when I’m holding the Gwi Jaam Do and step out of its line of sight?’
Once he plugged in that hypothesis, the last exchange made sense.
The Gwi Jaam Do in Deactivation Mode wasn’t simply a weapon with a quiet presence.
It obscured the target’s detection ability and amplified ambush success rates from blind angles to abnormal levels—that was its true function in practical combat.
That was the real ability.
‘Not bad.’
Si-ul’s mouth curved into a smile.
A simple warm-up bout, and he’d gained an unexpected insight.
Whirr, click.
The robot righted itself again.
Blue electricity crackled from the damaged section at its flank.
Self-repair was underway.
‘Good, heal up. My next experiment will shine even brighter with you at full strength.’
Si-ul grinned and raised the Gwi Jaam Do.
Then he spoke clearly, commanding:
“Activation Mode.”
In an instant, dizzying light erupted from the Gwi Jaam Do.
The small blade in his palm transformed in a heartbeat.
A translucent edge stretched outward, and beyond a certain length, it resembled less a sword than a pillar of pure light.
Cyan-white radiance shoved the Training Facility’s floor away bodily.
Boom!!
The sound barrier split his eardrums.
Mana erupted from the Gwi Jaam Do, trembling through the entire Training Facility.
The blade that had moved like a ghost, killing all presence, was gone.
What Si-ul now held was violence itself—uninterested in concealment.
“Wh—what is this…!”
The Activation Mode’s intensity far exceeded Si-ul’s expectations, and he gasped.
The light of the Gwi Jaam Do did not cease.
Once the blade began to extend, it stretched endlessly.
Like Sun Wukong’s staff, it stretched forward frantically ahead, leaving only a single hilt in his palm.
“Wait—!”
Startled, Si-ul twisted his wrist angle.
His hand bent under the recoil of the light blade extending far too long.
Crack!!
The twisted axis of light pierced directly through the robot’s abdomen.
The robot had not taken the blow stupidly.
Si-ul saw it in a single moment.
An instant before penetration, he witnessed blue Mana rapidly layering across the robot’s abdominal armor, condensing like a barrier.
Just as a hunter would deploy the Build Stone Wall skill, the robot had unfolded its own defensive technique.
And yet it made no difference.
The Gwi Jaam Do ignored the defense entirely and pushed through with brute force.
Thud!!
The robot’s upper body, its abdomen pierced through, bent backward and collapsed.
Its armor and skeletal frame could not hold, rupturing outward as metal shards and blue sparks scattered in all directions.
“Activation Mode off—!”
As Si-ul’s urgent command fell, the radiance filling the Training Facility extinguished as if it had all been a lie.
The Gwi Jaam Do gathered its pillar of light and contracted in an instant.
The blade that had stretched long began to wind back, shortening until it returned to its small form as though nothing had happened.
…….
The Training Facility fell silent.
The silence was so complete that what had just unfolded felt even more unreal.
Si-ul stared down at the Gwi Jaam Do in his hand with a dazed expression.
‘The power of Activation Mode is only this much?’
It was indeed an expensive, high-rank weapon, but the destructive force potent enough to saturate the entire Training Facility with Mana was beyond his expectations.
Yet in truth, that was not the Gwi Jaam Do’s pure capability.
The cause lay within Si-ul himself.
His body, bearing the Death Notice Curse, currently flowed with Mana from the Demon Realm.
The Gwi Jaam Do, too, was a weapon imbued with Mana from the Demon Realm, and it had resonated with the same essence.
Resonating with Si-ul’s Mana, the Gwi Jaam Do amplified its Activation Mode power several times over, unleashing overwhelming firepower.
It was a unique Activation Mode that only the cursed Si-ul could draw forth.
A hunter living on borrowed time continues to survive
Author |
Klutsmutsu
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
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Editorial Department
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Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books
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Submissions |
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No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means without written permission from Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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