How to Live as a Fencing Genius Hunter - Chapter 19

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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 19
Demon Realm (1)
“The settlement amount didn’t match, so I went to the agency and nearly got buried alive, sir.”
His agency had ties to organized crime syndicates, and they were laundering illegal gambling site profits through broadcast sponsorship money.
“The agency used that money to buy Gold Bars and other things to stash away. When I tried to report it, they beat me senseless.”
That much I understood completely.
“I nearly died back then. The injuries were pretty serious.”
The arts and entertainment world had always been thick with thugs.
“You’ve been through it.”
I also learned that he’d never even stepped foot in a prison.

“Hardship? I avoided prison thanks to it. I was in the hospital for treatment, heard about this business, and volunteered.”
I knew about delayed trials due to medical treatment myself, and if he’d spent that long in a hospital, his life must have truly hung by a thread.
“If things were going so well, why not just keep broadcasting? Even with trial, you could aim for probation or acquittal.”
I found myself curious about why he’d come to become a Hunter.
“Ah, I’ll get back to broadcasting. But since the world’s changed, wouldn’t broadcasting need fresh content too?”
That was an unexpected answer.
“Content?”
“These days, the influencers who are doing well are all Awakened One Hunters. With so many pouring in these days, shouldn’t I get on the boat too?”
Though I did it partly for post-injury rehabilitation, he added.
Just as I’d become a Hunter to wield a blade again, it seemed Lee Hae-il had become a Hunter to broadcast again.
That passion made perfect sense to me.
“I was also worried about retaliation. They believe I know where my boss buried the Gold Bars.”
“Those bastards only believe what they want to believe.”
“I don’t even have solid proof—just some rough ideas. It’d be wrong to say anything.”
“Right. If you’re right, you’re just doing them a favor. If you’re wrong, they’ll come for revenge anyway.”
“Yes. And I heard something called the Scorpion Faction popped up outside.”
That’s when Lee Hae-il brought up something I’d already heard about.
“You know about it?”
“Huh? Did you hear about that from Hunter Hong too?!”
Lee Hae-il seemed to have received the same proposal from Hong Si-yu as I had.
That offer to reduce his sentence in exchange for additional cooperation with the police operation.
“I had a feeling you’d be the top priority.”
“Yeah. These kinds of problems are best handled with your own hands. Let’s do well.”
Suddenly, the guy felt closer to me.
Not everyone was given a chance to recover what they’d lost in the past, but Lee Hae-il and I had been given that chance.
Since his opportunity was also mine, it felt good to think he might succeed alongside me.

“I need to hunt Demon Beasts seriously, huh?”
“You said it.”
“Do more sword practice too.”
“Will you keep teaching me?”
“A bit after work? Why? Don’t want to learn?”
“No, no, no! I’m just so grateful.”
Lee Hae-il was startled by my words.
His golden-tinged eyes went wide as ping-pong balls—quite a sight.
“As thanks—though it’s meager to even call it that—I’ll put you up until you find a place. Of course, free of charge. We have plenty of rooms at home.”
That’s when I heard something I hadn’t expected at all.
“What? A house?”
I stared at him hard.
“Yes. When the banks collapsed, my savings vanished, but the house in Incheon is still intact. It wasn’t seized or anything, so I can just move in.”
“A house ‘in Incheon’?”
Lee Hae-il nodded confidently.
“Yes. I was quite popular back then. I had five or six apartments, you know.”
…….
“Since it’s been vacant for years, I’ll need to clean it up, but it should be quick with the two of us.”
The regret that I should have bought property in Incheon instead of Seoul flashed through my mind.
After that came the question of whether to accept his offer to let me stay.
The offer itself was kind.
But if I stayed at a girl my age’s place, things would get awkward fast.
Patter-patter!
Just then, a cluster of cockroaches tumbled from the ceiling.
Their wings whirred as they scattered across the room, disappearing in all directions.
“I’m good at cleaning. I was always the youngest in my group.”
I jumped to my feet.
This was no time to worry about awkwardness or anything else.
“Let’s do it together.”
Lee Hae-il was already up.
“Here it is.”
“Here?”
Lee Hae-il’s apartment was 2,400 square feet.
* * *
The next morning.
“You awake?”
“Just ten more minutes. Please.”
“It’s our first day at work.”
I spread a triangle kimbap and a cup of instant noodles across the marble table.
“Where did you get these? There’s no way these are from my place.”
“Bought them downstairs. They’re not old, so it’s fine to eat.”
I’d picked them up before Lee Hae-il woke.
Back in my fencing days, I’d always grab a triangle kimbap before dawn training sessions.
Fuel the body, fuel the journey.
“You got all your gear?”
We ate breakfast quickly and gathered our equipment.
“Yes. I have the Tactical Combat Uniform and Saber. Everything’s here. The Assault Rifle will be provided at the site.”
“In the old days, even competitive shooters couldn’t carry their own weapons. The world’s really changed.”
I put on a fitted Tactical Combat Uniform, tucked a Calorie Bar and Tourniquet into the cargo pockets of my pants, and strapped on the Estoc that Ji In-hui had crafted for me.
I tightened my combat boots at the shoe rack mirror and caught my reflection.
A young man with pale blue eyes was smiling—a smile so alive it surprised even me.
A pleasant tension wrapped around my entire body.
The Tutorial had been exactly what it was: a tutorial.
Today was my first real day as a Hunter. My first actual combat.
Thinking of what Demon Beasts and what battles awaited me, I felt every muscle tighten—from my heart through my shoulders—in anticipation.
“Come on. Let’s go hunt some Demon Beasts!”

Lee Hae-il emerged in an equally fitted Tactical Combat Uniform.
The belt holding the Saber hung loose around his waist, resting diagonally across his hips.
I narrowed my eyes at the sight.
“What? Surprised?”
“No.”
Lee Hae-il caught my expression and his lips twitched as if he understood something.
“No need to deny it. Handsome men look good in women’s clothes, and pretty women look good in men’s clothes—that’s just how it goes! You’ve got a great physique, too.”
“I wouldn’t know about that.”
“If your build was lacking, the show would’ve had to go with makeup effects instead of the cross-dressing concept. We were really lucky.”
“Tighten that belt properly.”
“What?”
“When we’re out there and need to draw the sword, a loose belt means you can’t get it out clean. Or you roll around, the cord twists, and it snaps. Everything that moves needs to be cinched tight. Upper over lower—that’s how we were taught to wear it.”
I pointed at Lee Hae-il’s belt.
If he left it like that, he could trip over the scabbard while running and go down hard.
“Understood.”
Lee Hae-il adjusted his belt with a disappointed expression.
“Let’s go.”
Time to report for duty.
Buses ran regularly through Incheon.
Occasionally I’d spot bullet holes or tooth marks, claw scratches on the windows, but no one on the bus paid them any mind.
“Here we are.”
The Saebyeol branch where we’d reported for duty stood directly in front of the Gate called the Demon Realm.
They’d commandeered an entire large commercial building, and the abundance of people in Tactical Combat Uniforms around us confirmed we’d come to the right place.
“Don’t get nervous.”
“A genius, you say?”
“Ah, that’s true as well. What couldn’t I do?”
Lee Hae-il chattered away beside me.
“Sir. Be careful of that Captain Choi. He could beat you to death, they say.”
“I’ve heard.”
A soft electronic whine.
I stepped through the automatic doors.
“What?”
An incomprehensible scene unfolded before me.
“You bastards! Don’t you have any damn sense?”
“Sorry, sir!”
“Anyone want to grab drinks after work? I know a nice spot.”
“That girl from yesterday was really something, right? Can you get ahold of her?”
“Hey, just lend me 300,000 won—”
“Screw off, you degenerate.”
The wide lobby was packed with what looked unmistakably like men whose lives had spiraled into ruin—street thugs, through and through.
They wore makeshift military uniforms, neon-bright pants, and gilded gold chains, and carried Assault Rifles in their hands.
“Did I take a wrong turn?”
“It seems I might have, sir.”
I was beginning to suspect that I’d already stepped through a Gate bearing the name “Demon Realm.”
There was simply no other way a scene like this could exist.
* * *
I hadn’t taken a wrong turn.
Unfortunately.
This was indeed Saebyeol.
Regrettably.
If this was the best Guild, what hellscape were the others?
It was a sight beyond comprehension.
“These bastards have lost all discipline!”
Dozens of men lay on the right side of the lobby, bottle caps placed on their heads, sprawled flat on their stomachs.
One man swung a mop handle toward their backsides.
“Hey, you know that girlfriend of Young-soo at his funeral last time? She works at a bar down below, you think we should go?”
“Why bother? There’s plenty of good options around here these days.”
On the left sofa, dozens of men smoking indoors were engaged in vulgar, crass conversation.
Jo-ung Ho-min, an Awakened One from the Scorpion Faction, and his associates were wedged among them.
“That lipstick looks really good on you.”
“Do you… want to have it?”
“Why say it like that? If you put it that way, it sounds like I’m stealing it, doesn’t it? Friends can share things too.”
Elsewhere in a corridor, four or five women were stripping cosmetics from another woman.
I stood frozen in place.
“Sir. What… what is all this?”
Lee Hae-il asked, as taken aback as I was.
“Looks like Non-Awakened Hunters?”
“Ah, you mean those gun-wielders?”
I recalled what Hong Si-yu had taught me.
Most Demon Beasts were vulnerable to firearms.
So when an Awakened Hunter brought down the odd Demon Beast that resisted gunfire, the Non-Awakened Hunters would suppress the rest with coordinated volleys.
“But do Hunters really act like this toward each other normally?”
“I’m not sure. Though if you think about how sports clubs can be brutal, it’s not surprising that you’d see this kind of thing in a hierarchical organization dealing with rough work.”
“Who the hell are you bastards? Where do you think you’re crawling in at this hour, you cowards!”
Then some of the men who’d been playing a hazing game shouted at us.
“Are you talking to me?”
“Of course I’m talking to you! Get on the ground, you piece of shit!”
The one carrying the Assault Rifle pointed roughly in our direction.
These must be the Non-Awakened Hunters.
I’d never been treated this way, even in prison.
Thinking back on it, it reminded me of my fencing club in high school.
Some senior had said things like that back then too.
I wondered what I’d done in response.

“Bow down?”
I walked toward him.
My reflection appeared in a large mirror hanging on the wall.
A faint ring of light hovered in my pupils.
Not a metaphor for the light in one’s eyes — it was actual, tangible light, like the lava-bright hair of Hong Si-yu or the glacial gaze of Su Seong-min.
“Why?”
If someone looked closely enough into my eyes, they’d know I was an Awakened One.
And from what I understood, the Hunter industry treated Awakened Hunters and Non-Awakened Hunters very differently.
“Hey, but why are you both carrying swords?”
“Didn’t they say the Awakened Hunters were coming today?”
“Weren’t they already here?”
“Could it be…….”
The faces of the thugs who’d been playing their rough games hardened by degrees.
I heard muttering — something’s gone wrong.
“Could it be what?”
For a moment, I even imagined these bastards might shoot me.
They seemed capable of it.
“Are you… the Awakened Hunter we were expecting today, sir?”
“That’s right.”
“I’m terribly sorry! I didn’t recognize you, and I spoke out of turn. Please, forgive me just this once.”
Fortunately — or perhaps inevitably — nothing of the sort happened.
The man bowed deeply, as if ready to prostrate himself before me.
The same one who’d been hurling curses and throwing punches in front of dozens of people mere moments ago had undergone such a complete reversal that it was almost absurd.
“Would I have had to bow if I weren’t an Awakened Hunter?”
I lowered my voice as I asked, and his face filled with discomfort.
“I’m sorry! Please forgive me.”
But instead of answering, he simply repeated apologies like a parrot.
“It’s fine. I can forgive you.”
A bitter smile escaped me.
“Thank y—”
“Then you forgive them too.”
“Pardon?”
“I don’t know what those people did wrong, but this isn’t something that should happen first thing in the morning. We’ll be drained before we even start hunting.”
Still, I decided to stop there for now.
I deliberately left him one step back from the edge.
It was a demand not to repeat the same behavior when I wasn’t around, and also a warning that next time, I wouldn’t be so lenient with face-saving.
Even back in high school, in that terrible senior-junior hierarchy of the athletic club, I’d always ended such situations about this way.
“Understood. Thank you.”
The man bowed again, as if he’d grasped my meaning.

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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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