How to Live as a Fencing Genius Hunter - Chapter 12

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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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How a Fencing Prodigy Lives as a Hunter
Chapter 12
Tutorial (4)
We paused there for a moment, catching our breath.
My right thigh, which had been burning hot, cooled rapidly.
The moment I defeated the Monster and absorbed its Mana, my body responded quickly.
I’d been worried about how fast it was overheating, but the recovery was equally swift — a relief.
“Jin-u!”
“Sol! Open your eyes!”
But there were others who had suffered wounds that would never heal.
I saw the Awakener who’d served in the Marines — the one bisected by an Orc.
I saw the Awakeners felled by the Pumpkin’s pellets.
Some of them might have deserved death, but right now I only felt pity.

“Jae-ha.”
“Hae-il. You did well.”
“Come on, what did I do? You took down the Orc, and you took down the Jack o’Lantern too, didn’t you?”
Lee Hae-il approached me and bowed his head slightly.
For a moment, something like fear seemed to flicker across his face, but it vanished just as quickly, leaving only his usual cheerful smile.
The Monsters had been shocking enough — it made sense that some emotion would linger.
“I knew you were impressive, but I didn’t know you were THIS impressive.”
Lee Hae-il spoke in wonder.
“One thrust with your sword and the Orc falls dead, another thrust and the Jack o’Lantern falls dead — one shot, one kill! Whoa! Is this world champion class?”
Though I’d heard words like that many times before, they felt as fresh as the first time.
I wondered why, and the answer came quickly.
Because I’d genuinely worked hard for the last month.
As a result, I’d come one step closer to the Saebyeol Guild where Jae-ha would be, and to this wonderful Status Window Ring.
My body had grown stronger, my right leg had recovered somewhat, and I’d found new joy in the profession of Hunter.
After doing my best, I’d gained both the things I’d hoped for and things I’d never expected — how could I not feel good about that?
“You worked hard too. That timing with the two Goblins was perfect. We survived because of you.”
Lee Hae-il praised me in turn.
That timing really had been excellent.
Especially because it was real combat.
Most athletes in their first competition can’t show even half of what they’re capable of, yet here was someone who’d pulled off what he’d learned in a life-or-death match.
“Well, people have always said I learn things quickly. The viewers — or rather, my fans — called me the greatest genius of all time, someone who even mocked the gods, Lee Hae-il.”
He shrugged his shoulders and pointed at himself with both thumbs.
Wink.
The gesture was thoroughly annoying to watch.
“No. Don’t push it.”
I didn’t think I should give out praise too freely.
By then, my right leg had cooled completely.
“Hold on.”
I stood and walked over to the Awakeners gathered to one side.
“Um, Jeong.”
“Thank you.”
They offered me their gratitude while gauging my mood.
But unlike Lee Hae-il, I had no praise to give.
“Didn’t I tell you clearly not to shoot?”
“That’s—”
“We all studied it together, didn’t we? How the Pumpkin absorbs heat, how it collects that heat and fires it back. That you have to be able to bring it down with cold weapons alone.”
To be honest, I was barely holding back profanity.
“I can’t work with you if this keeps happening.”
“No. What are you saying?”
Then one Awakener approached, flanked by half a dozen others.
The Awakeners around us scattered hastily, clearing the way.
Jang Young-jun.
He was with the Scorpion Faction too.
He’d been one of the group with Kim Gang-o, who’d dropped out early, and Baek Jin-u, who’d just died.
“What?”
“We all know too. Did you think you were the only one in class…?”
“You knew, so why—”
“I was trying to wipe out all the Goblins before the Pumpkin Monster woke up.”
His tone was careful, but his eyes burned with frustration and anger.
“You clearly told us not to shoot before the Pumpkin Monster woke up.”
“No.”
“If I hadn’t hesitated because of what you said, I could’ve killed every last Goblin! Then Hyuk and Dong-woo would still be alive!”
It was absurd.
“Are you blaming me?”
At this point, my voice had turned sharp.
“If Jeong just hadn’t used his sword and only fired from a distance, nobody would’ve died!”
Jang Young-jun answered as if he’d been waiting for this.
“What? What?”
The air around us froze.
“You followed me here and that’s what you’re saying? If it wasn’t for Jeong, you’d be torn in half by an Orc!”
“No. But what if Jeong had fired his gun? Couldn’t he have killed the Goblins?”
“I told you—firing wakes the Pumpkin Monster! And they kept shooting then too. He didn’t hesitate because Jeong told him not to shoot. The bullets wouldn’t come out no matter how hard he pulled the trigger.”
Lee Hae-il spat out the words, then rushed over and stood beside me. Every Awakener around us turned to watch.
“If that’s really what you think, I have nothing more to say.”
I looked at Jang Young-jun.
There really were people this shameless in the world.
In another time, I might have tried to make him understand. Might have tried to reason with him.
‘A Hunter sliced a civilian to death with his sword.’
But after that trial, I’d lost the desire to change anyone’s mind.
“Going forward, don’t order us around like that. Let’s consult with each other—”
Jang Young-jun was about to say what was probably his real point.
He wanted to guilt me into being useful to him.
“I don’t think I can keep going with you people.”
I cut him off and made my decision clear.
“What?”
“If you don’t like my call, go your own way. I won’t miss you.”
“No.”
“I was going deeper anyway. Even if it means a few more fights, I’ll push through faster.”
“Are you saying you’ll leave all of us and go alone?”
“Whether I go alone or not, I don’t think I’ll be going with you.”
This was my thinking apart from Jang Young-jun anyway.
Now that I’d faced Orcs and Jack o’Lanterns, I had a feel for it.
It was doable.
Even if I didn’t need to clear the deepest Red Zone entirely, it seemed better to push further in and pass through quickly.
Sure, I’d have to fight a few more times, but that wasn’t something I dreaded.
“Do you remember when you said there’d be more Pumpkin Monsters and Orcs the deeper we went?”
I turned to address all the Awakeners around us.
“I’ll take point like I have been, but anyone continuing with me should know what they’re getting into. And let me be clear—if you fire without my permission, I’m leaving you behind.”
I didn’t wait for their answer and started walking.
“That was pretty cool, hyung.”
Lee Hae-il was the first to follow.
“You’re sure about this? It won’t be dangerous?”
It was a bit surprising.
“What? No, I mean—looking at the way those guys talk, they still don’t have a feel for things, you know? Following you is a hundred times safer than going on like this.”
I wasn’t bothered by it.
It felt like my skill and judgment had both been recognized.
“Jeong.”
More people than I’d expected came along with me.
Those following Jang Young-jun had dwindled from seven or eight down to four.
What a fool.

* * *
Control Room.
“He made a clean break. Jang Young-jun? If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have this mess.”
“You get types like that everywhere. Especially among politicians. Just thinking about that National Assembly bastard from back then makes my blood boil. That one’s definitely going to form a Black Guild.”
“That ‘anyway’ was the key, wasn’t it? He said he was going deeper no matter what, so the ones who were thinking of getting out couldn’t handle it and just dropped off.”
“It’s not easy. Calculated coldly, it’s not something you’d say to someone’s face.”
Scouts from guilds, corporations, and government agencies leaned forward, their eyes glinting as they watched the monitors.
“The truth is, you’re just dead weight—get out of the way. Isn’t that a hard thing to say directly to someone?”
“Before the Gate opened, people who acted like that were the ones with rotten character.”
“We avoided a scene because of Jang, made allies for deeper exploration, and everything worked out. I’d say that was well done.”
“What I really liked was giving everyone advance notice, you know? Making it their own choice, so everyone takes responsibility for it.”
The government agency scouts were particularly enthusiastic.
Excellent Awakeners were rare, and Awakeners who were both skilled and at least decent enough in character not to warrant a written warning were rarer still.
By any standard, he’d already cleared the threshold for both ability and character in recruitment.
Su Seong-min’s face from Saebyeol Guild grew gradually paler.
“Seong-min.”
Hong Si-yu leaned over with a soft smile and whispered to him.
“Starting to sweat a little?”
……
“You’re wondering why you said something so stupid, right? Later when he’s on TV, Chairman Ban’s probably going to ask, ‘Who was that scout back then?'”
On the monitor, Jeong Jae-ha was running like the wind along the boundary between the Red Zone and the Yellow Zone.
Crack!
A sleeping Jack o’Lantern shattered in a single blow.
[Right side cleared!]
[Left side is also clear!]
[All Jack o’Lanterns in the vicinity have been eliminated!]
[Fire!]
Once the Jack o’Lanterns fell, they could open fire.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
Orcs and Goblins that had been converging scattered like blood-soaked corpses under the Hunters’ MP5 Submachine Gun barrage.
[You all did well.]
[It’s all thanks to you, boss.]
The strategy was textbook, executed with precision.
“So you’re telling me that’s not a veteran in their third year—that’s a rookie who’s been at it for three weeks?”
“Is he first place right now?”
“Yeah. By a mile.”
The scouts had moved beyond mere evaluation into admiration.
Jeong Jae-ha and the Awakeners were threading the needle along the boundary with the Red Zone, passing the halfway point of the Gate first.
[Look at that over there.]
[Wow……!]
[What is that?]
[Isn’t that a boss?]
Their attention shifted momentarily in one direction.
The screen followed their gaze.
There was a clearing ringed by towering thorny hedges, and in the center of that clearing lay an enormous pumpkin.

[Gate Boss]
[Rotted Premium Quality Jack o’Lantern (C+)]
The boss monster of this Gate.
Before that pumpkin, a small dragon was crouched.
[Field Boss]
[Pumpkin Wyvern Everlor (C+)]
A draconic lesser dragon.
A wyvern with a round, orange carapace like a pumpkin.
At its joints, dark purple spikes and scales intermingled, and its wings were traced with veins that looked like pumpkin vines.
To Hong Si-yu and the scouts, it would have been easy prey, but to Awakeners who had recently awakened, it was a calamity made flesh.
[I didn’t tell you to hunt them. Let’s move.]
Jeong Jae-ha boldly bypassed both the pumpkin and the wyvern, heading for Zone 3.
[Boss! We found the seedling here!]
They discovered the seedling not long after.
“That Lee Hae-il seems pretty capable too, doesn’t he?”
“Good nerve, decent sword work, and most importantly, he doesn’t try to cut corners. That’s the best part.”
The scouts took their eyes off Jeong Jae-ha’s group at that point.
“Now, let’s check out the other team.”
“Let’s see what happened to that group from earlier.”
“Wasn’t there some punk from an organization who threw his weight around?”
They were prospectors sifting through gravel for gems, not jewelers cutting and polishing them.
The scouts were beginning to narrow their eyes as they stared at their separate screens.
‘Those gangster bastards from back then? The ones picking fights with Jeong.’
It was then that Hong Si-yu spotted Jang Young-jun on one of the monitors.
‘He kept hitting on other Awakeners too—must have plenty of grudges.’
Jang Young-jun was meeting up with his crew.
[Ah, this’d be the perfect time to put him down, but of all things those two stick together.]
[…… Damn it. But what can we do? The gun’s locked, and the sword won’t work.]
[Why can’t we do anything?]
‘The one he’d been pestering most…….’
From what Hong Si-yu had investigated.
‘Lee Hae-il.’
Jang Young-jun, Kim Gang-o, and the other Scorpion Faction Awakeners were tangled up with Lee Hae-il in the same case.
[We can shoot into empty space though. If we shoot enough, everyone’ll come running.]
The Scorpion Faction thugs had been using Lee Hae-il, an internet broadcaster, to launder money.
‘Could it be them?’
Hong Si-yu kept her eyes fixed on the screen.
Jang Young-jun’s group was moving toward the Red Zone in the center.
He smirked as he watched Jeong Jae-ha and the other Awakeners returning with their seedlings.
“Operations staff.”
Hong Si-yu quickly grabbed the radio.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
[Ha-ha-ha-ha!]
But Jang Young-jun emptied an entire magazine from his MP5 Submachine Gun into the air far faster.
[Grrrrr…….]
[Shreeeek! Shreek!]
The catastrophe had begun.
Jack o’Lanterns woke in unison, and Orcs and Goblins swarmed like hornets.
[Use that Sword Technique worth a damn. Move your legs, you bastards.]
Jang Young-jun and his crew bolted, and the flood of Monsters, turning this way and that, spotted the group led by Jeong Jae-ha passing through.
[Shreeeek!]
The Orc’s eyes on the screen narrowed.
“Damn it all!”
“That bastard!”
Hong Si-yu, Su Seong-min, and the scouts all erupted in curses.
“Prepare for entry. We’re going in directly.”
Hong Si-yu shot to her feet, barking orders into the radio.
[Waaaaaaagh!]
A green tide of Monsters surged across the screen.
The field team was in no position to handle this.
‘Jeong.’
Hong Si-yu sprinted toward the Gate, monitoring the live situation on her smartphone linked to the screen.
The mana inside the Gate distorted the image with crackling static, but right now a single smartphone didn’t matter.
‘What?’
At that moment, she caught sight of Jeong Jae-ha’s face hardening with cold resolve as he raised the MP5 Submachine Gun.
[Everyone empty your magazines!]
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
Jeong Jae-ha raked gunfire toward the sky.
‘What’s he thinking?’

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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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