How to Live as a Fencing Genius Hunter - Chapter 4

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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 to Live as a Fencing Genius Hunter
Chapter 4
Awakened Jung Jae-ha (3)
Player Jung.
No matter how many times I heard it, the words never failed to sound good.
Thinking that even that fire-breathing Awakened Hunter had called me that way made my mood twice as bright.
“Truthfully, I’ve never had someone with this much experience before, so it’s been a bit unclear how to convert Education Points.”
“I see.”
“How many medals have you won altogether? Olympic gold, Asian Games gold…?”
Hong Si-yu tilted her head as she asked.
“I’ve won gold at the Olympics, Asian Games, and World Championships. I have multiple golds from Fencing World Cups and Fencing Grand Prix events.”
“The total count?”
“Ten.”
“Then your career reflection score alone is already over 30 points? That’s truly remarkable!”
Her voice brightened noticeably at my answer.
“That’s an exceptional score. You’ll be able to choose any place you’d like to go.”
Was it unreasonable to think she seemed pleased that she could give this score to me instead of someone else?
“Where the hell did something like that come from?”
That thug gang leader guy — Kim Gang-o or whatever his name was — glared at me from the front.
I didn’t bother paying attention.
As if a punk like that mattered.
What was far more important was figuring out exactly what score I would receive.
“Excuse me. If 35 points is that good, could you explain how much that means?”
I raised my hand and asked clearly.
“Ah, yes. Since you’ve brought it up, let me show you this first.”
Snap!
Hong Si-yu flicked her finger at once.
“These are the guilds and institutions currently participating in our Rehabilitation Hunter Service Conversion System.”
Three categories appeared on the slide.
In order: public institutions, major corporations, and mid-tier corporations.
“Public institutions include places like the police, military, and Gate Management Bureau.”
[1. Public Institutions (Stability Score 80)]
“The pay is tight, but the mortality rate is low, and you’re automatically hired as a full-time employee once your mandatory service period ends. Oh, and by the way, that mandatory service period also counts toward your seniority.”
Hmm. No matter how much of a model prisoner you are, it’s something else for the police to take inmates and put them to work — it seems Awakened are really in short supply.
The sense of strange expressions on the faces of the other model prisoners around me suggested I wasn’t the only one thinking this.
“Large corporation PMCs are mostly facility security or container ship work.”
[2. Large Corporation PMC (Stability Score 90)]
“Most people tend to go this route. Not quite as well-paying as mid-tier, but better than public institutions; not quite as safe as public, but better than mid-tier; and the business cards are respectable.”
The large corporation PMCs were all names I knew.
Samjeong, Hwahan, Mirae, GL…
Even before the Gate Opening crisis, these were the companies that had controlled Korea’s fate.
As Hong Si-yu said, wanting to go there seemed universal — I could hear swallowing sounds from all directions.
The Stability Score was high too, over 90 points.

“Of course, most will probably end up going there.”
[3. Mid-Tier Corporation PMC]
-[Saebyeol (Stability Score 85)]
-[Murim (Stability Score 60)]
-[Mataop (Stability Score 50)]
-[Cheorhyeol]
-[Cheonsa]
.
.
.
-[Unmyeong]
Hong Si-yu’s smile turned crooked.
“The official name is ‘State-Recognized Private Military Form Security Cooperation Special Guild,’ but everyone just calls them guilds. Since it appears in official documents, you can just think of them as guilds.”
The excited atmosphere from moments before evaporated quickly.
“Damn.”
“Why? I think it’s good? They pay well, don’t they?”
“You’re telling me to go out there and get myself killed by Monsters?”
“I’d rather stay in a safe cell eating decent prison food, thanks.”
Kim Gang-o, a Kendo 3rd Dan certificate holder standing right there, was trembling visibly.
“The pay is excellent. Base salary alone exceeds 10 million won, and if you earn bonus incentives from hunting many Monsters, you could be pulling in enough for a foreign sports car every month.”
Yet the negative reaction made little sense to me.
The famous, powerful Hunters I’d seen on the news all belonged to guilds like this one, so shouldn’t guild entrance requirements be the most selective instead?
But the scores told a different story.
Only Saebyeol, where Chae Ha currently worked, had slightly higher entrance standards; the rest hovered around 50 points.
Anything ranked below third didn’t even show a number.
“To be frank with you, the previous batch tried to hide this, but it didn’t work. Yes—Artificial Awakened who join guilds typically lose about a third of their numbers within three months, and roughly half within six months.”
My confusion cleared up immediately.
There appeared to be a substantial gap between Natural Awakened who could wield superhuman abilities and regular Awakened like us who only gained improved physicality.
Still, losing a third in three months and half in six months was staggering.
Before Gate Opening became common, this would have been an absolutely insane corporate sweatshop.
Though it seems things aren’t quite so dire now.
“However, the compensation is genuinely substantial, and your chances of Awakening are high. Even without Awakening, if you hunt a hundred Monsters and absorb their Mana, most people survive just fine. Particularly, we have zero fatalities among those who caught twenty-five or more Monsters in their first month. They’re all doing well in the industry now.”
This was a government and Awakened Association initiative, yet they were speaking about these statistics openly.
“If you Awaken—meaning you achieve Natural Awakening and gain superhuman abilities on top of your already enhanced body? And that reaches B-Rank or higher? The money you receive changes in scale entirely. If you keep working steadily in that state, you could be treated like a national hero like Ban Hae-jin, appear in major corporation advertisements, and live comfortably.”
For me, though, this wasn’t entirely bad news.
From what I’d heard, public institutions and major corporations didn’t hunt many Monsters, but I needed to hunt plenty of Monsters to recover my legs.
“Most guilds operate on a regional basis. If you have a hometown, we recommend joining a guild active in that area.”
I was beginning to understand how this Hunter industry worked.
It was almost identical to the arts and athletics world I’d come from.
First: without decent skill, you don’t eat.
In the arts and athletics world, that meant financial hardship; in the Hunter world, it means death—leaving the industry permanently.
Second: if you’re pretty good, you can work in the public sector, like municipal teams or national second-division leagues.
In the Hunter industry, like in arts and athletics, “landing a job” at public institutions or major corporations is usually the highest success level reachable at an ordinary level.
Third: if you’re genuinely excellent, you can become a star and make a name for yourself.
Major corporation endorsements and luxury sponsorships lined up, bathed in the world’s spotlight—just like me in the past.
I’d made my decision about where to apply.
[Saebyeol (Stability Score 85 points)]
I looked toward that famous guild, Saebyeol.
The first and greatest guild, founded by S-Rank Hunter Ban Hae-jin.
The only guild whose entrance Stability Score was 80 points or higher.
Either way, I had to hunt Monsters for my leg rehabilitation, and if I was going to swing a sword, I might as well do it somewhere world-class.
If I became the greatest Hunter at the world’s greatest guild, I’d gain more honor than I ever had winning Olympic gold.
If I’d planned to live a modest life, I wouldn’t have become an athlete in the first place.
* * *
“Now then, let me answer the question you asked earlier. Here are the Education Points scores from our training center.”
Hong Si-yu finished her explanations and answered my question.
[Attitude Score: 30 points]
[Practical Skill Score: 30 points]
[Theory Score: 30 points]
[Social Adaptation Education: 10 points]
[Total: 100 points]
“And on top of that, there are several ways to earn additional points, one of which is your track record before Awakening.”
It had been worth the wait—the answer was worth my patience.
“One point for a Dan Certificate, two points for domestic competition placement, three points for international competition placement. Since you have ten international championship wins, I awarded you thirty points. Does that answer your question?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
An additional thirty points was a massive bonus.
Even if I completely bombed one of the three sections—practical skills, written exam, or attitude—I could still aim for 100 points.
Just fifty more points and I’d secure Saebyeol’s Stability Score threshold.
The realization that those glorious days I’d thought were lost forever were still being recognized made my chest tighten.
Of course, I had no intention of becoming complacent.
One mistake in life was enough.
I’d give my absolute best until I reached 85 points, and after that, I wouldn’t let my guard down for a moment.
“Wow. That’s pretty sweet, isn’t it?”
“Damn. I only got three points and this guy gets thirty?”
“If you’re jealous, go win an Olympic gold medal yourself.”

The moment the scoreboard appeared, murmurs rippled through the hall.
Envious and jealous glances poured in from all directions.
I crossed my legs lazily and tilted my chin up.
I’d been through this many times before.
“Hmm?”
That’s when I spotted Kim Gang-o down below.
That Kendo 3rd Dan was staring straight at me with murder in his eyes.
I stared right back, and the bastard looked away first.
Then he ground his teeth like his head might explode.
Pathetic.
“……Well, orientation’s over. Let’s move on.”
Hong Si-yu then explained the facility layout, maps, and regulations in more detail.
“Turn on the phones we’ve handed out and check your number and schedule. If you miss a class, your Education Points get deducted, so you need to manage your own schedule.”
I picked up the Smartphone they’d distributed and tried to check my number.
I had to open an app first and verify my identity…… damn it.
I had no idea what I was doing.
Back then, Chae Ha used to help me.
‘Big brother. You call yourself a genius but can’t do this? You’re hopeless. I guess I’ll have to stick with you and do it for you.’
‘Don’t make those fish-mouth noises at me.’
She’d teased me so much about being hopeless with machines that we used to fight about it when I was younger, but now I’d take a full day of her mockery just to see her again.
“Excuse me.”
After fumbling around for a while, I finally asked the person in front of me for help and managed to find out my number.
[213]
It made me laugh—the same number as my placement on the leaderboard.
Looking further, I started to understand how the training was structured.
About a thousand prospective Hunters were grouped into units of two hundred and rotated through different training facilities.
While trainees 1 to 200 attended theory classes, 201 to 400 learned sword technique, and 401 to 600 practiced marksmanship, and so on.
[201~400: Large Monster Sword Technique Practical Training]
I was in the sword technique group.
* * *
Large Monster Sword Technique training took place in a gymnasium several times larger than the auditorium we’d just left.
Even with two hundred people inside, the space felt cavernous.
“Look at these blades. Pretty intimidating.”
“I heard you can’t use greatswords like that in real life?”
“There are axes too. Hey, didn’t you kill someone with an axe?”
The atmosphere in the gymnasium was as rough as the auditorium had been before Hong Si-yu arrived.

“What the hell. Fencing gets 30 points like it’s so great! A sport where you just poke without any defense technique—how is that called martial art? Right?”
Kim Gang-o was here too, surrounded by his gang and bad-mouthing me.
“Uh, yeah.”
I even saw a guy with dark, coarse hair among them, awkwardly chiming in as if he agreed.
I knew Fencing had that reputation for lacking practical application in real combat.
As someone who’d trained in several other sword arts besides Fencing, I acknowledged that modern Fencing lacked Sword Wrestling techniques.
But saying Fencing wasn’t a martial art was just ridiculous.
How else would you describe ‘a technical system for learning how to deflect your opponent’s blade and strike the torso’?
Once you’d stabbed straight through the torso, Sword Wrestling meant nothing anyway.
“Attention, everyone! We’re starting!”
Hong Si-yu came down the stairs to the platform with a brown-haired man at her side.
“All right. We’re beginning the Large Monster Sword Technique practical training. Let’s give a hand for our C+ Rank Earth Sorcerer Hunter, Ji In-hui, who’s helping us today!”
The man had the same faint luminescence around his eyes as Hong Si-yu did.
“Nice to meet you all. I’m Ji In-hui.”
Ji In-hui spoke as applause rang out.
Crack! Crack-crack!
But our eyes weren’t on his mouth—they were drawn to the shadow that rose up behind his back.
“My specialty is Golem Crafting. I’ll do my best to ensure you can all safely and effectively learn the characteristics of various Monsters.”
Standing nearly three meters tall.
A massive head resembling a Halloween Jack O’Lantern.
A woody body made from clumps of pumpkin leaves and thorny vines.
Four vine arms made entirely of thorny tendrils.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The Jack O’Lantern we’d learned earlier stepped forward to stand beside Ji In-hui.
“The pumpkin creature’s physical abilities have been perfectly replicated, but since it’s a Golem rather than an actual Monster, you needn’t worry. Some minor injuries may occur during training, but there’s no risk to life, so please set your minds at ease.”
Everyone’s jaws dropped as they looked up at the creature—or rather, the Golem modeled after one.
“Ah, if anyone would like to face the Jack O’Lantern before receiving instruction, feel free to step forward. I’ll award 5 Attitude Score points.”
That’s when Ji In-hui smiled in a peculiarly knowing way, spreading all five fingers of one hand.
“I believe several people in this group mentioned having Dan Certificates earlier. Are there any volunteers? I’ll only be taking three.”
I recognized it the moment I saw that smile.
This is a trap.

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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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