The Support Ate it All

As usual, Go Hyeon-woo’s smile and eyes were full of positive energy, while Seo Ye-in had just woken up and still looked sleepy.

However, the moment their eyes met, it seemed like sparks flew in the air.

Go Hyeon-woo gently suggested.

“Haha, Miss Seo. How about yielding this time? You paired up with Kim-hyung just a few days ago.”

Go Hyeon-woo was referring to when Seo Ye-in and I teamed up at the game center last weekend.

He didn’t mind getting his skull split by an axe, but he must have felt bad that he played alone in a two-player game.

His opinion was to take turns pairing up fairly.

Seo Ye-in who still looked sleepy looked at him and slowly shook her head.

Then she casually mentioned,

“Hmm…!”

If I were to stretch out Seo Ye-in’s two words, what she wanted to say was that I had only descended to the underground dungeon with Go Hyeon-woo.

Seo Ye-in also wanted to join the underground dungeon raid, but unfortunately, Ahn Jeong-mi had firmly declared, “Miss, you can’t!”

Additionally, since she had repeatedly asked me to keep her updated, I felt guilty about sneaking her in.

Until she received permission from Hye-sung Group, we could only enter dungeons she qualified for together, and for the rest, I would have to go with Go Hyeon-woo.

Suggesting they take turns didn’t make sense when Go Hyeon-woo would monopolize the pairing anyway.

It was a sharp observation, so I nodded my head.

“Miss Seo’s opinion is valid. If we count the number of times, haven’t I paired with Go Hyeon-woo more often?”

“Hmm… I can’t deny it. I hadn’t considered that. Then, Miss Seo and Kim-hyung—”

“But I will give you a chance.”

I raised my hand to stop Go Hyeon-woo who was ready to accept the result and pointed to Seo Ye-in.

“Defeat her.”

The winner takes all.

Go Hyeon-woo asked,

“How should we compete?”

“The challenged person decides.”

Go Hyeon-woo and I looked at the “challenged person”.

After tilting her head a few times, Seo Ye-in slowly raised her fist.

“…Rock, paper, scissors?”

“Rock, paper, scissors, sounds good. How about best three out of five?”

“Mhmm.”

Seo Ye-in slightly nodded her head.

The first to win three out of five rounds of rock, paper, scissors would team up with me.

Their gazes met in midair again and Go Hyeon-woo lightly raised his clenched fist.

“Rock, paper—”

A sharp glint seemed to flash in Seo Ye-in’s eyes for a moment.

She used Bullet Time.

“—scissors.”

The result, needless to say, was Seo Ye-in’s victory.

However, Go Hyeon-woo chuckled as if he had expected it.

“I knew Miss Seo would use that skill. But I heard that skill has a five-minute cooldown. From now on, it’s a pure contest of luck.”

A pure contest of luck…

Wouldn’t that make things worse?

While I tilted my head in confusion, Go Hyeon-woo confidently raised his fist.

“Rock, paper—”

“Scissors.”

Go Hyeon-woo lost. Seo Ye-in’s second win.

“Rock, paper—”

“Scissors.”

Go Hyeon-woo lost. Seo Ye-in’s third win.

The match was decided in a flash, with a score of 3-0.

However, Go Hyeon-woo raised his fist again and said,

“Rock, paper—”

He continued to challenge Seo Ye-in.

It was a bit pathetic.

On the other hand, Seo Ye-in calmly accepted the challenge.

“Scissors.”

Go Hyeon-woo lost. Seo Ye-in’s fourth win.

“Rock, paper—”

“Scissors.”

Go Hyeon-woo lost. Seo Ye-in’s fifth win.

“Rock, paper—”

…

…

…

“Scissors.”

Go Hyeon-woo lost. Seo Ye-in’s fourteenth win.

By this point, even Go Hyeon-woo seemed to realize this was not right. He brought his raised fist to his mouth and began to ponder seriously.

Then, when he spotted Shin Byueog-cheol passing by, he gestured for him to come over.

“Shin-hyung, come here for a moment.”

“Huh? What’s up?”

As soon as Shin Byeong-cheol got close, Go Hyeon-woo raised his fist.

“Rock, paper—”

“Huh? Scissors.”

Go Hyeon-woo won. Shin Byeong-cheol lost.

Then, after pondering seriously while stroking his chin, Go Hyeon-woo challenged Seo Ye-in once more.

“Let’s do it one more time. Rock, paper—”

“—scissors.”

And the result was inevitably Seo Ye-in’s fifteenth consecutive win.

Go Hyeon-woo nodded with a noticeably more relieved expression.

“It won’t work. I concede.”

“I thought so.”

To dare to compete with luck against someone like her was foolish from the start.

Though even I didn’t expect him to lose fifteen times in a row.

I pointed at Shin Byeong-cheol who was standing there idly.

“You should team up with him.”

“That sounds good. What do you think, Shin-hyung?”

Shin Byeong-cheol was delighted at the sudden suggestion.

It was a rare opportunity for him to pair up with someone as skilled as Go Hyeon-woo.

“Oh, I’m always free.”

“Haha, that’s great. Let’s go discuss it in detail.”

“Sure. Want to grab something to eat?”

The two quickly found common ground.

While Go Hyeon-woo and Shin Byeong-cheol headed to the store,

We also had things to discuss before the midterms started.

So, I sat across from Seo Ye-in and started the conversation.

“We can only bring in two items.”

“Mhmm.”

“I’m bringing these two.”

Root and the storm cloud bracelet.

These were the highest-grade pieces of equipment I had.

There was no need to worry since my equipment was already lacking.

On the other hand, Seo Ye-in who was practically covered in high-grade items had to choose two from among them.

“First, you need a weapon.”

“A weapon.”

Seo Ye-in pulled out a magic gun and placed it on the table.

It could transform into various forms to suit the user’s preference, and currently, it was an assault rifle.

“This one is a combination of an assault rifle and a shotgun, right?”

“Mhmm.”

“It was a dual pistol and a sniper rifle at first.”

– Nod.

“Can you change the combination?”

At my question, Seo Ye-in rummaged through her inventory and pulled out a small booklet.

Exclusive magic gun manual for the young miss.

Author: Ahn Jeong-mi.

When she opened the manual, Ahn Jeong-mi had written everything about Seo Ye-in’s magic gun in precise and angular handwriting.

The doodles scattered throughout to supplement the explanations were a bonus.

She’s not very good at drawing…

Still, it was easier to understand than Seo Ye-in’s cookies.

A few pages further into the manual revealed how to change the magic gun’s configuration.

It wasn’t necessary to stick with the assault rifle-shotgun combination.

If it’s the optimal combination for a deserted island survival…

I recalled the various terrains of the deserted island for a moment and then said,

“How about an assault rifle and a rifle combination?”

“Mhmm.”

Seo Ye-in immediately nodded her head.

Regardless of the reason, she seemed to agree simply because I told her to.

According to the manual, tuning up the magic gun required a few tools and a considerable amount of time.

So I left it for her to handle on her own.

“What other equipment do you want to take?”

“……”

Seo Ye-in then spread out the items on the table just as she had before.

Bracelets, earrings, a bulletproof vest, a tie pin, and… a large tiger plush.

To be precise, it was a feather cushion transformed into a tiger plush.

“……”

Seo Ye-in slowly pushed the tiger plush forward.

It was her way of expressing that she wanted to take it with her.

I mimicked Ahn Jeong-mi’s tone with a stern face.

“Young miss, no plush toys. Choose something else.”

“No?”

“You need to choose something that will help with the exam.”

Seo Ye-in placed the tiger plush on her lap and hugged it tightly.

“Can’t sleep without it.”

“……”

It was true; Ahn Jeong-mi had mentioned that.

She said that if you take that cushion away, the young miss will wake up right away.

However, no matter how much she insisted, I couldn’t let her bring a plush toy that was only used for sleeping when there was good equipment available.

If everyone else started at level 2, it would mean Seo Ye-in would be starting at level 1.

So I gently persuaded her.

“Just endure it for two nights. I’ll get you a sleeping bag.”

“Mhmm…”

In the end, her second item was an invisible ghillie suit that paired well with the sniper rifle.

Most of the students spent Monday and Tuesday frantically busy.

They were reviewing all the material from the past eight weeks because they didn’t know what might come up in the midterms.

In contrast, for me midterms were nothing new, so I didn’t need to review.

I could predict what would be on the exam without looking.

And so I spent Monday and Tuesday holed up in the training center and focusing on skill ranking.

I threw Air Bursts at iron dummies and used Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger on the sealing box.

Then, on Tuesday evening…

[The rank of ‘Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger’ has increased. (C->B)]

Creak,

My index finger now held an even colder chill than before.

The force that invaded my hand through my index finger grew even fiercer, but it still couldn’t penetrate the S-rank elemental resistance.

This meant I had increased its power to the brink of what my resistance could nullify.

I dissolved the demonic energy staining my hand with a few drops of a basic elixir.

This used up my second bottle of elixir.

It seemed wise to save the last one for emergencies.

The sealing demon box was now a useless and empty porcelain jar with not a trace of demonic energy left.

Even if I turned it upside down and shook it, nothing came out.

I used it all up thoroughly.

I had consumed three B-rank items: the sealing box, the purification talisman, and the basic elixir, but I had rapidly increased my rank because of it.

With one problem solved, I immediately moved to the training room.

Bang!

I continued practicing Air Burst alongside the Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger and was close to ranking it up.

The training room dummies had been reinforced with steel, which made them more durable and incredibly fast.

They darted wildly from side to side, kicked the walls and ceiling, and fled frantically.

I was hitting each one with blasts of compressed air.

Bang!

Despite being hit squarely by Air Burst, the iron dummy only paused briefly before resuming its frantic movement.

Just as I was about to cast another spell, a note-shaped icon appeared in my peripheral vision.

It indicated that I had received a message.

When I checked the sender, it was Jang Sam, or rather Jang Moo-geek.

The message was a single word.

[Jang Moo-geuk: Be careful]

[Kim Ho: Thanks]

I had made an agreement with Jang Moo-geuk to trade the [Ghost Dance] skill and, in return, get a heads-up if Mak Dae-wong’s side tried anything.

Given the timing of the message, it seemed they might be interfering with the midterms.

Predictable as always.

This was so typical.

I sent a non-appreciative appreciation to Mak Dae-wong and continued launching Air Bursts.

Bang! Bang!

If they do that, it works in my favor.

They were probably thinking of sending swordsmen to take me out, and I hoped they would bring plenty of crystals with them.

Bang!

[The rank of ‘Air Burst’ has increased. (D±>C+)]

[Acquired ‘Spiral Explosion (C+)’]

Three prerequisite C-rank skills merged into one to culminate in the long-awaited Spiral Explosion.

When I pointed directly at the frantically moving iron dummies,

Whoosh—

A whirlwind formed and it pulled everything towards it.

The dummies tried hard to push off the ground but could only manage to stay in place.

Their limbs creaked as if broken.

Soon, compressed air exploded at the center of the whirlwind,

Booom!

Shredded steel fragments scattered everywhere.